This summer we had a competition to grow the tallest sunflower. As you may have seen in the Bracknell News one Cub grew an 11′ flower. The Environment Department of the Council also had a tallest sunflower competition this summer. The record was set by six year old Jake Davies in 2001. His sunflower was an amazing 4.23m. None of our flowers managed to beat him.

Reports from the packs …

14 May – Sam Heathcote reports 4cm shoots.
15 May – Wolves report that many of their seeds now have shoots up to 2cm high.
17 May – Lots of reports of seeds shooting. Most people now have at least one plant
2 June – Oliver Viney has planted his out in the garden
7 June – Baloo sends pictures of his and Thomas’s plants
8 July – Daniel Jordan reports his plants are 136cm and 110cm tall and still growing
10 July – Daniel Gathergood sends photographic evidence. His sunflower is 97cm tall
27 July – Oliver Viney sends pictures of his sunflower – now 6′ 7″ (2m) tall.
1 August – Update from Daniel Jordan – his plants are now 2.4m and 1.9m. Almost as tall as Akela’s!
2 August – The race between Baloo and his son Thomas continues. They have 2 sunflowers each. Baloo’s are now 180cm and 171cm while Thomas’ are lagging behind at 152cm and 142cm.
14 August – Oliver Viney’s plant is getting taller. Lets hope somebody waters it while he is at camp
2 September – Oliver’s sunflower is now just over 3m tall
4 September – Ben Lyndon gets his picture in the Bracknell News with his 11′ (3.35m) tall sunflower which makes him the winner
9 October – Sam Heathcote records that his flower made it to 2.53m and had a very large flower

Akela’s Sunflower Diary …

6 May – seeds planted
15 May – one green leaf breaking the surface
18 May – A long shoot with two large leaves on the end (only 1 seed germinated)
7 June – planted outside
13 July – now 165cm tall
30 July – even taller – now a massive 275cm tall, poking out above my runner beans
10 August – the hot weather has not stopped my sunflower growing. It has now topped 3m!
13 August – some people didn’t believe that my sunflower was so tall. It is now 3.2m and there is a photo to prove it
25 August – it has now got a big flower on the top
3 September – at 3.3m tall, but the flower is now so heavy that it has bent the stem right over