The Great Sunflower Book by Barbara Flores, published in 1997 by Ten Speed Press will definitely encourage you to make a place for these plants in next year's garden. Barbara Flores discusses the history of sunflowers. They were cultivated by the Native Americans for nearly 3,000 years. According to Flores' research, the Indians used sunflowers for everything from food to hair oil. You'll have to read this book to learn the history of sunflowers from the American Indians to the Europeans to the Russians who really developed it as a food and oil crop.
Sunflowers belong to the daisy family.
Flores illustrates and describes 33 of the 50 common species and cultivars. The most common sunflowers are annuals. There are several perennial species, which typically have smaller flowers. I like the idea of these plants returning to a garden year after year and will definitely seek out some of these perennial varieties for next season's garden. Studying this book makes me eager for seed catalogs to arrive.