Sunflowers: End of Season

Sunflowers are annuals; that means that they will die at the end of their yearly lifespan, and return from seed the next year.

Right now, end of summer and beginning of fall, is prime time for small birds to feed on the seeds. Years ago, at the end of summer, I often walked by a house with a stand of dry, dead sunflowers across the front yard. When I passed by mid-morning, a flock of small birds was always busy eating the seeds. The owners of the home were probably not there to see this. Then one day, the dead sunflower stalks, and of course the birds, were gone. How sad.

So if you want to feed the birds, leave your dried sunflower stalks up. Want to know if birds are eating the seeds, even if you don't see them? Look for seed heads with a range of missing seeds, like in this image. .Birds are already, in late August, eating the seeds in my front yard. I haven't seen them, but the seed heads don't lie.

If you must remove the stalks before the birds are done, you can cut off the seed heads and hang them from a nearby tree. It seems birds won't eat them on the ground.

Birds I’ve seen eat my sunflower seeds: house sparrows (really a type of finch), house finch, goldfinch. Sorry, no pics - they fly away if I come too close. Birds I've seen in my yard and suspect eat the seeds: titmouse, chickadee. Birds abundant in the neighborhood but probably too big: cardinals, woodpeckers, jays. I've seen these listed as birds that eat sunflower seeds, but these birds would knock this sunflower variety over with their weight.

Then later in the year, when the birds seem to be done, I use the stalks as excellent mulch. After breaking up the stems, I spread them on bare spots in the yard. Sometimes I'll cut the seed heads to leave them in place for next year, sometimes I'll add some to bare spots.