What To Do With Sunflower Stalks

On quiet winter evenings spent studying seed catalogs and even when popping perky sunflower seeds into the ground in spring, visions of cheery yellow, orange and red sunflowers (​Helianthus​ spp.) dance in people's heads. Hardly anyone dreams about the sober, hardworking trunk-like stems that support and nourish sunflowers or wonders what will become of them. As it turns out, sunflower stalks can be put to many practical uses. From compost to birdseed, these lovely flowers can be quite useful!

Use dried sunflower stalks to build circular pole bean teepees in the garden to support your pole beans. You can also grow living sunflower supports in a circular pattern and plant beans around them. The sturdy stems on taller sunflowers are more than able to hold these climbing vegetables as they grow and mature.

Sunflowers can also be used to build rustic ladder-style garden trellises. At summer's end, cut spent stalks off at ground level and then dry them for several days in a cool, dark, well-ventilated place. For each trellis, select two large, strong stalks as the vertical supports and lay them down on the ground. Cut smaller sections to use as cross members (ladder steps). Tie these in place — very tightly — using baling wire or strong fishing line, allow the trellises to fully dry and then brush or spray them with waterproofing sealant.

Leaving the mature sunflower seed heads attached, saw several stalks off near the base and dry the entire plant in your shed or garage. Come winter when songbirds are hungry, move the stalks out near your bird feeder and press them into the ground (supported with wires as needed).

Some people stomp fibrous stalks flat to use them as a base for their compost piles. They can also help introduce oxygen if you poke them into the existing pile. (You can also grind them up to compost directly.) Others cut or break stalks into foot-long sections, dry them and use them as kindling in their wood stoves. Just make sure that you didn't spray your sunflowers with chemical pesticides, because any residual chemicals left on the stalks can be released into your home as fumes if you burn them inside.

For some playtime privacy in an open, otherwise sunny spot, grow sunflowers into a children's playhouse — using every size for maximum effect. As the stalks begin to shoot up, also plant a vigorous annual vine, such as morning glory (​Ipomoea​ spp.), which will weave around the stalks to help fill in the walls. When it's time to harvest the seed heads, carefully climb a ladder to do so but leave the vertical stalks undisturbed. Create post-harvest shade and privacy by adding a sunflower stalk ceiling to the playhouse.

String sunflower stalks together with thin but sturdy wire to make a tall bamboo-style privacy screen or windbreak. That same section of sunflower-stalk screen can be tacked atop a simple structural frame to shade a patio or to border a garden sitting area. The flowers make both a decorative and practical screen.

To really keep the kids busy over the summer, challenge them to make flutes out of sunflower stalks, a Native American art. Wait until the stems are dry, then poke small holes at various intervals for the "flute" holes.