Bright, sunny sunflowers look lovely in a pot. You can make them look even more cheerful by painting the pot and giving them a smiley face.
5-litre (9 pints) tins or bigger
Enamel paints
Vaseline
Polythene bag
Draw the designs for the clothes of your flowerpot people on paper first, then use enamel paints to copy the designs onto some tins.
Ask an adult to make holes in the base of each tin, then spread some gravel on the bottom for drainage. Now fill the tins up with soil and give them a good water.
Make two holes 1.5 cm deep near the centre of each pot. Sow a seed in each hole and gently cover with soil. Put a polythene bag with a few small holes in it, over the tin.
Smear the sides of the tins with a ring of Vaseline to deter slugs and position in a sunny spot. Remove the bags when the leaves appear and remove the weaker plant.
Water little but often as without water sunflowers will quickly die. If your flowers have more than one head developing, cut the extra ones later for an indoor flower display.
Once the sunflowers have opened, use a pencil or pointed stick to mark the head to make a face. Eyes, noses, and mouths can be different shapes.
The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.
