Clemson Univesity Extension Service

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. One of the remarkable features of our state is the incredible diversity that comes from our encompassing mountains, foothills, piedmont, sandhills and coastal plains ecosystems.

Clemson Extension Agent Amanda McNulty talks with the Historic Columbia’s Director of Grounds Keith Mearns about their new on-line plant database that documents all of their plant material.

Dr. John Nelson of the AC Moore Herbarium joins Clemson Extension Agent and host of Making It Grow, Amanda McNulty , for a final chat on Carolina Bays.

Dr. John Nelson of the AC Moore Herbarium joins Clemson Extension Agent and host of Making It Grow, Amanda McNulty, to continue the conversation about Carolina Bays.

Dr. John Nelson of the AC Moore Herbarium joins Clemson Extension Agent and the host of Making It Grow, Amanda McNulty, to talk about Carolina Bays.

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. The Schweinitz sunflower was named for Lewis David de Scweinitz, an American botanist with important German connections. Born in Pennsylvania, he was a descendant of the founder of the Moravian Church, and traveled to Germany for training at a seminary there. .

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Tom Ballou of the Midlands Chapter of the South Carolina Bee Keepers Association first told me about Schweinitiz’ sunflower, Helianthus Schweinitizii, several years ago and gave me a start for my garden. Sadly, a huge pine fell into that space after a hurricane and it was two years before I could get it removed and find out what plants survived.

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. The North Carolina State University Herbarium describes Schweinitiz’s sunflower this way. A perennial rhizomatous herb with one to several hairy purple stems growing from a cluster of carrot-like tuberous roots. It goes on to tell us that the leaves “feel like felt on the underside and rough like sandpaper” on the top.

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Shweinitz’s sunflower grows in only a few places in north and south Carolina. Since 1991 it has been on the federal endangered species list; it seems to require a fairly regular fire regime in order to persist. It has an unusual root system for a sunflower, fleshy starchy structures like a sweet potato’s which provide it with the stored carbohydrates needed to resprout vigorously after fires or mowing – now it is often found on roadsides.

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Helianthus annuus, the annual flower that produces seeds with commercial value, is native to the prairies of the mid-western area but now is found all over the US and Canada. We have several sunflowers that are evolved in our part of the country. One of particular interest is Helianthus schweinitzii, or Schweinitz sunflower. This plant is endemic to certain parts of North and South Carolina.

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow.  At a recent funeral in Columbia, the homily included remarks about the thousands of jars of artichoke relish the departed parsishoner had made over the years for an annual bazaar. Artichoke pickles are made from a native sunflower, Helianthus tuberosus. Believed to have first been domesticated by   western native americans, it’s now found in almost every state and in half of Canada.

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Our perennial, beautiful and prolific native swamp sunflower, Helianthus angustifolia, is native to the eastern united states and is an important plant for wildlife. But Helianthus annuus, the annual  colorful sunflowers that produce seeds eaten by birds and mammals, including us, is  native to the mid-west prairies, and is now  a plant of world-wide importance. In the US, we think of it as a food to feed birds and to snack on.

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. I’m going to suggest that my bird-loving friend Ann Nolte add a large planting of sunflowers to her “big yard” garden outside St. Matthews . Here’s a partial list of birds that feast on the seeds – doves, quail, blackbirds, bobolinks, chickadees, goldfinches, meadowlarks and tufted titmice.

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. If I were trying to educate my children by growing sunflowers, I guess I’d plant the pollenless varieties which have a longer vase life and don’t drop yellow pollen on your white table cloth. And until now I ‘ve just picked up seeds based on how pretty the flowers look on the package.

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Team Making It Grow recently visited one of the SC Department of Agriculture’s agritourism farms in Anderson. Sol Flowers grows sunflowers to support the local Foothills Community Foundation. We arrived early and meet grower Danielle Roberts, who was already speaking with a young engaged couple and their photographer about having engagement pictures taken. Roberts grows a commercial type sunflower rather than one breed for the florist trade.