I don't know too many designers who use sunflowers in their perennial garden designs, but there's a place for everything in the right setting. Perhaps now that these new mildew-free versions are available, designers who favor big, bold plants will reconsider this cheery native American bloomer.
Research scientists from the USDA's Agricultural Research Service and the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station in Fargo, ND, jointly developed the new line of sunflowers by crossing elite sunflower hybrids with wild sunflowers collected in Idaho and Texas over the past 20 years.
The result is HA (Helianthus angustifolius) 458, HA 459 and HA 460, which are resistant to the mildew fungus that attacks both seedlings and mature plants, and also produce an oil with a very desirable flavor.
Plant pathologist Tom Gulya of the ARS's Sunflower Research Unit at Fargo, notes that the appearance of virulent new types of downy mildew fungus have spurred the search for new hybrids with disease resistance. Field tests have shown that the new sunflowers are not affected by mildew fungi found in North America, and they're also resistant to a French mildew fungus that has not yet appeared in America.
Seeds for the new sunflower hybrids are available through Brady Vick at ARS ([email protected])
(image: Bruce Fritz courtesy ARS/USDA)
Comments