The best companion plants for sunflowers include crimson clover, pumpkins, squash, corn, lettuce, and tomatoes. Sunflowers generally provide companion planting, shading cool-season crops from the harsh afternoon sun and attracting pollinators to garden crops that depend on insect pollination.
Sunflower companion plants
Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) are our most beautiful summer and autumn flowers. They are perfectly fine when planted independently but can create many benefits when paired with various plants and vegetables.
Sunflower plants are most commonly good companion plants for crops that require insect pollination, as their big blooms attract pollinators and beneficial insects such as butterflies, bees, and more. They are also great for crops that may thrive best in partial shade since the sunflower stalks grow tall and long, providing shade for those who need it. Their structure can also significantly help protect crops from harsh weather.
1. Crimson clover
Crimson clover is an excellent companion plant for sunflowers. This flowering groundcover attracts beneficial insects to the garden, including pollinators and pest predator insects. Clover also crowds out weeds that seek to compete with young sunflower plants, providing natural weed suppression. As the sunflowers start to tower over the clover, these little plants are pretty tolerant of a bit of shade and can thrive as living mulch between tall adjacent rows.
Crimson clover is an annual (not a flower that comes back yearly), making it easy to control by cutting back before it goes to seed. Lastly, clover can draw nitrogen into the soil to provide this vital nutrient to the sunflower plants. And the flowers are pretty cute, too!
2. Pumpkins
Pumpkins are another favorite sunflower companion plant. These sprawling plants can be grown on the soil around the bases of the sunflowers, making for a perfect autumn scene in the garden.
The giant pumpkin plant leaves help provide natural weed suppression for the sunflowers while shielding the ground from direct sunlight, helping keep moisture from evaporating too quickly during hot summer conditions.
And the benefits go both ways! Sunflowers are also very helpful to pumpkins as they attract pollinators to the area, which may go on to pollinate the pumpkin blossoms as well.
3. Zucchini
Zucchini, like pumpkins, are good garden companions for sunflowers. The sunflowers attract pollinators to the zucchini blossoms, boosting insect pollination. Some gardeners also like to stake their zucchini plants, and these plants can share a stake with sunflowers in windy areas.
4. Squash
Squash plants beyond pumpkins and zucchini can benefit from sunflowers attracting visiting pollinators. The sunflowers can also provide just enough shade from the harsh afternoon sun to squash that they need to thrive. And for the smaller squash, the vines might use the sturdy sunflowers as a trellis!
Some delicious squash varieties to add to your sunflower garden include Honeynut squash (a mini butternut), Green Striped Cushaw (both edible and ornamental), and the gourmet Pink Banana squash.
5. Melons
Melons are another excellent companion plant for sunflowers. Like pumpkins and other squash, melons grow long vines with large leaves that help keep the soil moist and crowd out weeds. The sunflowers also benefit the melons by boosting insect pollination.
6. Corn
Corn is often planted near sunflowers. Both have tall stalks and deep roots that work together to maximize their potential to obtain essential nutrients and water.
Pollination is essential when growing corn, as each kernel needs to be adequately pollinated to form. As such, a row of sunflowers blooming along the edge of a patch of corn is a common sight in the country.
7. Onions
Onions are excellent pest repellents —keeping the wrong bugs and pests away and allowing the suitable insects to pollinate. The large sunflower heads also provide the onions enough shade to keep them growing at a reasonable temperature.
Sunflowers work best for the onions that produce large bulbs by late summer and early fall. Once your onions have been harvested, those in temperate climates can plant garlic or scallions in the early fall.
8. Garlic
Garlic thrives next to sunflowers very much in the same way onions do. Like onions, garlic also produces a strong smell that repels unwanted bugs. And there is a vast range of different varieties to choose from!
Garlic is generally harvested in early summer, so the effect is limited to early in the season, but this can be one of the most critical times of the year to deter pests from moving in for the rest of the growing season.
9. Tomatoes
Sunflowers and tomato plants couldn’t be more perfect for one another. Sunflowers make great companion plants for tomatoes since they attract aphids away from them.
In this instance, the sunflower acts as a trap crop, attracting the nasty bugs away from its original target. Here’s how to grow your tomatoes.
10. Peppers
Sunflowers and peppers are excellent companions in the same way sunflowers are for tomatoes—the sunflowers deter aphids that often inhibit the full potential of peppers. Peppers are sun lovers, so be sure to plant the sunflowers behind these shorter plants!
11. Cucumbers
Cucumbers are another plant that thrives from the shade a sunflower provides to its surroundings. The sturdy stocks of sunflowers also provide structure for cucumber vines to grow. Sunflowers attract beneficial insects that love to eat cucumber beetles, making them trap crops, a natural pest control—but still attract suitable beneficial insects to help pollinate the cucumbers as needed.
12. Lettuce
Lettuce is a cool-season vegetable that likes to be sheltered from the harsh sun. Sunflowers can help provide just the right amount of sun rays for your lettuce leaves. Plant the lettuce behind the sunflowers so it shades it in the afternoon. Here’s a detailed guide all about growing your lettuce.
13. Kale
Kale also loves the shade the sunflower so generously provides. The sunflowers not only protect the plant but the soil from damage as well. Your vegetable garden will surely thrive if you pair sunflowers with these vegetables.
14. Chives
Chives are good companion plants for sunflowers because they deter harmful pests like aphids. Chives’ scent also tends to prevent other unwanted bugs. These two together work to repel many insect pests.
15. Basil
Basil will bolt if it gets too hot. Planting the basil behind sunflowers can help shade the basil plants in midsummer and keep the plants producing for longer. They are also excellent bug repellents. Planting basil, tomatoes, and peppers with sunflowers is an excellent example of clever companion planting.
16. Marigolds
Marigolds are frequently planted as a natural bug repellent. Strong scents are a great bug deterrent. Keep the nasty bugs away while adding beauty to your garden. Marigolds are a fan-favorite companion plant for good reason.
17. Daisies
Daisies bloom in more excellent conditions, making the tall sunflowers the perfect shade and shelter for the delicate daisy. Plant them behind towering sunflowers to provide partial shade for these dainty flowers.
18. Snapdragon
You’ll want to plant snapdragons in partly shaded areas behind sunflowers, bringing the large flower heads that provide shelter to keep the Snapdragons cool. You can even winter sow snapdragon seeds for earlier blooms.
Harmful companion plants for next to sunflowers
A few common garden crops make poor companion plants for sunflowers. This includes potatoes, hyssop, and both herb fennel and Florence fennel.
Potatoes
Sunflowers have a high allelopathic potential and may reduce the yield of present/future potato crops. They also compete for nutrients within the soil, so you won’t get the maximum benefits from either by planting these two next to each other.
Studies have also shown that potatoes and sunflowers are susceptible to verticillium wilt (Montana State University, Washington State University). These crops are better suited to be planted on a crop rotation schedule rather than near one another.
Fennel
Fennel isn’t a friendly companion to most food plants because it inhibits the growth of other plants around it. If you want to plant fennel, you’ll want to try planting it on its own—and away from the plants you want to see thrive.
