Moulin Rouge Sunflower is very tall, strong and has many flowers, but it's really too dark, not cheerful at all. It's lucky that I planted them with Autumn Beauty Mix (bronze, yellow...) so together they look very beautiful.

These were my favorites last year. They're so dark they're almost black, but with this beautiful deep burgundy loveliness that shines through.

I got this from a local nursery and I'm blown away by these flowers. I started the seeds in a tray but kept it outside in late May (zone 6) mainly because I wasn't sure where I wanted these plants to go. After a couple of weeks I planted some in front of the house and a couple among the veggies out back. They grew fast and healthy and started blooming sometime in mid-July. The flowers start out a deep, moody burgundy red, glistening with nectar. There are bees on these blooms all day long. As they mature the flowers stay burgundy but the backs of the petals have golden highlights so the fully open, mature flowers appear lighter. They're simply gorgeous and I'm already planning on an entire field of these next summer. The local goldfinches, hummingbirds, and resident chipmunks also love these flowers and it's so fun to see how each different creature has a different strategy for eating from these plants. I didn't use these as cut flowers the way the description suggests because they're simply too gorgeous to cut but I may do that next year if I'm successful at having a big patch of them.