This everlasting provides filler for fresh and dried displays. It stunts in the flat very easily and should be transplanted before flower buds appear. Statice blooms all summer until hard frost in every zone. Harvest during dry weather when most florets show color. Or, store statice in water and refrigerate for several weeks.
Sunflowers are tough as nails.
Daylength-neutral 'Sunbeam' blooms in 60 days, no matter where sown. Most sunflowers will top 5 feet unless you curtail height and flower size by closely spacing them in beds or whiskey barrels. But you get more flowers per plant from branching 'Valentine' or 'Autumn Beauty', a mix that includes bronze, purple, and bicolors. Given well-drained soil, sunflowers bloom all summer in every zone. Talk about a sure thing.