A SunBelievable Sunflower in a Garden Adds 1,000 Blossoms a Year

The National Garden Bureau declared 2021 the year of the sunflower at a time when we needed some hope for brighter days ahead. While there are all kinds of beautiful varieties of sunflowers (Helianthus), both annual and perennial, one of the most prolific when it comes to blooming is the annual variety called SunBelievable Brown Eyed Girl from Monrovia. Rather than growing tall with a few huge blooms at the top the way many types of annual sunflowers do, this floriferous phenomenon stays more compact with multiple stems and hundreds of bright yellow blossoms. Each flower has a dark brown center with a mahogany ring around it.

It's easy to see where the name Sunbelievable comes from. According to Monrovia's new plant manager Georgia Clay, this sunflower produces a genuinely jaw-dropping amount of blooms compared to traditional sunflowers' "one and done" behavior. "It's over 1,000 flowers on a single plant, and that kind of sounds too good to be true, but it's honestly not an over-exaggeration," Clay says. "It just flowers like a machine."

Another quality that sets SunBelievable Brown Eyed Girl apart from other sunflower varieties is that it blooms continually from spring until fall, when a frost finally brings the show to an end. This variety gets all its flower power because it doesn't make seeds, which means the plant has more energy to spend on blooming.

This compact sunflower variety stays under three feet tall, making it a good choice for containers or the front of a flower bed. Clay also recommends it for pollinator gardens because the abundant blooms provide a nectar source for bees and other insects. She pairs SunBelievable Brown Eyed Girl in her garden with other brightly colored plants for an eye-catching display. Clay says they would also work to liven up a monochromatic backdrop of evergreen shrubs.

"People are looking for things they can add to their garden that make a big impact, and they don't have to spend a lot of time on it," Clay says. And SunBelievable Brown Eyed Girl delivers by offering excellent heat and drought tolerance; it thrives even in warmer climates. The biggest problem Clay sees with the plant is overwatering, so use a light hand with the hose or watering can. If the first few inches of soil feels damp, wait another day or two before adding more moisture.

Clay says Sunbelievable Brown Eyed Girl is forgiving and "super tough," providing three-season value with its plentiful blooms. It's easy to love because "everybody knows what a sunflower is," Clay says. "It appeals to the masses and gives you all of the benefits of modern breeding, which is this new form with lots of flowers."

Monrovia is also releasing a second variety in the SunBelievable line this spring called Golden Girl. It's similar to Brown-Eyed Girl except that the blooms are all yellow, without the reddish brown ring around the center. Both varieties are available through Monrovia's website, or you can use its search tool to find garden centers in your area that carry the company's plants.