Ready, Steady, Sow! Sunflower Competition To Mark National Gardening Week
29 Apr 2019

To celebrate National Gardening Week (30th April to 6th May), Linden Homes is running a competition for its residents to see who can grow the tallest sunflower!

Sarah Williams, regional sales manager for Linden Homes, explained: “We thought it would be a great idea to hold a sunflower competition amongst our homeowners, as we have many green-fingered residents, as well as a lot of children living at our developments. They can collect their packet of seeds from the sales and marketing suite during National Gardening Week and whoever grows the tallest sunflower by 31st August will win a £50 Amazon voucher.”

The Guinness World Record for the tallest sunflower stands at 9.17m, which was grown in Germany in 2014.

How to plant a champion sunflower:

• You can sow your sunflowers seeds where they’ll flower, just ensure it’s weed free and try to choose a spot that is sheltered from the winds
• Rake the soil and dig some small holes approximately 12mm deep and at least 10cm apart
• Place the seed in carefully, cover with soil and water it gently
• Keep an eye out for slugs and snails – you could protect it by cutting the top off a plastic bottle to protect the seedlings
• Make sure it has enough water when it’s hot and enjoy watching it grow!
• You can help support it with a cane by loosely tying some string around the stem

Did you know:

• Kansas is known as the sunshine state and it’s also the state flower of Kansas
• Vincent Van Gogh painted several pictures of sunflowers during 1887-8, but he never painted a single artwork entitled ‘Sunflowers’
• They’ve travelled in space! In 2012 an astronaut from the US took seeds to space and recorded their growth
• The French word for sunflowers is ‘tournesol’ which means ‘turns with the sun’

For more information on National Gardening Week visit www.nationalgardeningweek.org.uk

Linden Homes Western is currently building in Bishop’s Cleeve, Thornbury, Bitton, Bath, Chippenham, Ashchurch, Westbury and Salisbury.

-ENDS-

Media can contact Emma Mackay on 077383 12960 for more information, images and interviews with Linden Homes.