It is our honor to offer Shock o Lat Sunflower to gardeners this season. This exciting Sunflower is found exclusively here at Park, and what a delight it will be to flower lovers, cut-flower growers, and Three Sisters gardeners everywhere.
Shock o Lat is a well-branched sunflower with multiple giant blooms reaching up to 6 inches wide. The base color is a rich, deep dark chocolate brown, with bright honey-gold tips and an ethereal gold halo around the big central seedhead. No two blooms are colored exactly alike, so each is a new masterpiece to be enjoyed.
And Shock o Lat Sunflower is far more "cutting friendly" than older varieties because it is entirely pollen-free. No more messy pollen to wipe up every day from your indoor arrangement. Suitable both for fresh and dried arrangements, Shock o Lat is long-lasting and durable in the vase.
This sunflower sets numerous flowerstems rather than the single stalk of traditional varieties. The blooms open in summer from direct-sowing in the warm spring soil, and they may need staking to hold up their bounty of big, heavy blooms. The plant reaches 6 feet tall and spreads about 18 inches or more wide. For a dense planting, space the seeds a foot or so apart in full sun and well-drained soil.
Sunflowers are native to North America, and a beloved mainstay of Native American cuisine. They are the 4th Sister in the traditional Three Sisters symbiotic vegetable planting of corn, beans, and squash. As the 4th Sister, Sunflowers added another climbing support for the beans and kept the birds busy eating their seeds rather than the veggies.
Shock o Lat is easy enough for a child to grow, and just about the most fun children can have in the garden. Find an empty patch of soil soaked in sunshine and create a sunflower forest this season in the garden.
