“Once our plant geneticists have finished the 5-7 years of research necessary to create a new ornamental sunflower variety, it is still 3 years before you, our valued customers, see it in catalogs and stores worldwide. First, breeder's source seeds are multiplied in bee isolation cages where we confirm the genetic purity and determine the production nuances of the new variety.”
More from Dr. Tom Heaton
“That’s one of our goals; to create sunflowers that look like other flowers in bouquets.”
“There’s now about 5,000 different types of sunflowers.”
“It takes about nine years to get a flower to market.”