The Best Flower To Plant In May

May is one of my favorite months in the garden. In the Buffalo, NY area, we often don't reach our last frost date until around Mother's Day, so May means we can finally start planting out and direct-sowing frost-sensitive crops. There are many lovely flowers to plant at this time of year, from zinnias to cosmos to marigolds, but the best one (in my opinion) is the classic sunflower (Helianthus annuus).

After all, what's not to love about sunflowers? I plant some shorter ones in containers and sunny parts of my border gardens, and taller ones in a patch of their own. I especially enjoy the blooms like 'Autumn Beauty' that come in shades of terracotta and bronze. I try to avoid planting my sunnies too close to most other flowers and plants, as they are known for being allelopathic, meaning they can impede the growth of nearby plants. There are some companion plants that thrive with sunflowers, though. 

And I don't stop planting sunflowers when May ends. While some of the cultivars I sow are branching and can thrive all season long, many others only produce single blooms, so I keep planting more seeds every few weeks through late spring and early summer. Then I have new blooms to enjoy for months. If you live in the Southern United States or other areas with an earlier last frost date, you'll be able to start planting sunflowers even earlier in the spring. And of course, if your last frost date doesn't come until after the end of May, then you'll have to be patient and wait a bit longer to plant these beauties. 

While you can start your sunflowers indoors and transplant them out after the last frost, I generally just direct sow my seeds, so I don't have to worry about disturbing or stunting their taproots. A lot of my yard receives part shade, but I try to make sure my sunflowers are in full sun locations where they'll receive at least six hours of sunshine a day. I'm also thinking about trying some ten-petaled sunflowers (Helianthus decapetalus), which are supposed to be able to handle partial shade.

My soil isn't perfect, and tends to be a bit clay-heavy, but I haven't had any issues with sunflowers growing in it. They're known for being able to tolerate a range of soil types. And once they're established, I don't even need to water too often, thanks to their long taproots, which provide them with quite a bit of drought tolerance. I do have to stake some of my taller cultivars to keep them from toppling over, though.

I'm not the only one who loves the sunflowers. The varieties with pollen (which are most of what I grow) are a huge hit with bees and other pollinators. And while I keep meaning to save some of the seeds to grow the next season, local birds usually beat me to those. I don't mind too much, though, since it's a great way to attract more songbirds to the garden.