COMING SOON! OUR 2025 CATALOG IS ARRIVING IN JANUARY!
Skip to the content
SELECT SEEDS

We're getting ready for the new year!

We have been busy packing our favorite flower seeds and gearing up for another amazing year. Stay tuned for back in stock seeds and plants for 2025 plus over 75 new varieties!
Sunflower - Mexican 'Torch'
Sunflower - Mexican 'Torch'
Sunflower - Mexican 'Torch'
Seed Packet

Sunflower - Mexican 'Torch'

Tithonia rotundifolia
This shrubby south of the border native once called Golden Flower of the Incas has scarlet orange daisy flowers blooming at the ends of the long, fluted stems. Good company to other sunflowers and tall native perennials, it is ideally suited to the back of the border and is heat and drought-tolerant when established and blooming. Easy to grow from seed sown direct after frost, it grows in leaps and bounds to flower from midsummer to frost. A favorite rest and refuel stop for migrating Monarchs.
SKU #S259
$3.25
Currently Unavailable
Notify Me When Available
Details
Approximate Seeds Per Packet
50
Lifecycle
Annual
Annual Hardiness
Tender Annual
Mature Size
6' h x 3' w
Sun
Full sun
Soil
Regular to rich, well-drained
Season
Summer to fall
Color
Scarlet orange with yellow centers
Features
Great Cut Flower
Heat or Drought Tolerant
Attracts Butterflies
Attracts Bees
Attracts Beneficial Insects
Notable
All-America Selections Winner
SOWING INSTRUCTIONS
Depth:
Surface to 1/8"
Sprout Time:
5-10 days
Seed To Bloom:
12-14 weeks
Starting Indoors:
Sow indoors 6-8 weeks before planting out after last frost. Keep at 70-75°F until germination, then grow on at 60°F.
Starting Outdoors:
Direct sow after last frost.
WHEN TO SET OUTSIDE
After all danger of frost has passed.
PLACEMENT & CULTIVATION
Mexican sunflower or tithonia is an impressive specimen that grows into a sturdy shrub in summer and soon develops fluted buds holding the fiery scarlet flowers. Attractive as a hedge or specimen at the back of the garden and valuable in cutting gardens. Deer-resistant tithonia attracts pollinators; late in the year, birds harvest the seeds. Easy-care, deadhead, if desired, for it blooms long regardless.
Final Spacing:
2'
Water Requirements:
Low Water Use
Watering Details:
1" per week; drought tolerant once established and blooming.
Soil pH:
Tolerates most pH levels.
Fertilizer:
No need to fertilize.
Diseases & Pests:
Prevent slug and snail damage by sprinkling some diatomaceous earth or crushed eggshells on the soil surrounding the plants.
When to Cut for Bouquets:
Harvest when flowers are 3/4 to fully open.
Access here