Gardening in winter

Many of us would be surprised to know that there are some flowering plants that not only bloom in summer and fall, but also bloom in late winter and give beauty to the garden. Sunflower comes in the top list to thrive the cold weather in Michigan. It is one of those hardy plants that are capable of fast growing even in cold weather. Sunflowers require a very little care. Talking about great fragrances Peonies are gorgeous. Lilies can also thrive the cold weather. Lilies are actually sustainable for all types of climate.

Lets talk a little more about sunflower this time. Sunflower is a flowering plant which is an inefficient user of water, as measured by the amount of water transpired per gram of plant above-ground dry matter. Sunflower is not highly drought tolearnt, but most of the time when grown with other crops, it is the only one surviving.
Here are some of the steps given to grow a sunflower:

• Sow the seeds directlly into soil. Usually, the temperature should be around 50s. If there's no sunflower seed at home, then we can buy it from stores.
• Plant the seed to a depth of 5cm/2" and should be well dug. We should also make sure that it should face the sun.
• If there is not much room, it is always better to plant fewer sunflowers because they are forced to compete with nutrients.
• Fertilizer mixed in at planting time will encourage strong root growth which protects them from blowing over in the wind.
• Watering is necessary but not too much because the plant will die.
• Keeping the seeding area weed free will help sunflower to pop out easily in couple weeks. Once the sunflower reaches 3 feet, weeds are not really a problem.
• It is better to spread netting over the planted area till the seeds germinate, to avoid birds and animals.
• Once the sunflower grows, it doesn't really need a lot of care.
• We can harvest sunflower seeds if we want, so that we don't have to buy the seeds next time we plant it. The seeds will fall from the flower head and we have to gently wipe it across a clean cloth.

I don't think that this is very hard. We just need to know few basic concepts about sunflower like it needs more space, we should not over water it, etc. Therefore, if following those few steps will help increase the beauty of our garden, then, why not start doing it?