My Mexican Sunflower Seeds Are Sprouting

Content submitted by: Barbara Weiner

I don't know why I am starting plants from seeds.  I am a busy professional who spends most of my everyday working in a downtown skyscraper. This is why I love Kalanchoe because it is a plant that can survive on my desktop in my downtown office, without me making a fuss over plant care.

A few weeks ago, I started hating the several square feet of patio at my rental apartment because it's filled with unsightly weeds.  I'm surprised that the weeds can actually survive in such a little space in semi-arid Los Angeles without people watering them.  Then I suddenly had a fantasy about those ugly weeds being replaced by bushy and showy flowers.  The more I fantasized about it, the stronger my desire is to get that easy growing and fast spreading bushy flowers to take over the weedy patio.  After lots of internet surfing for that type of flowers, I stumbled upon Mexican sunflowers.  I couldn't find the seeds from Home Depot, so I bought them online.  I bought 500 mg seeds (about 50 seeds) for about $4.38 (shipping included). 

On March 28, I planted the seeds in a seed starting tray filled with moistened potting mix and I have been watering daily ever since. (The soil has to be moist but not flooded with water so the seeds don't get drown and rot.)  The sprouts started showing up a few days ago, and as of today, there are more than a dozen seeds that had sprouted.  Whether these Mexican sunflowers will spread like weed in my patio has yet to be seen, but I'm very happy with these seeds so far.

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