Summer Of Sunflowers - Can YOU grow the Tallest Sunflower?

Can YOU grow the tallest Sunflower?

Spring has once again sprung; birds are chirping, and gardeners are getting ready to grow! It’s time to get back out in the garden with the children, as our ‘Summer of Sunflowers’ has returned with a ‘blooming’ brilliant prize to be won!  

Children of all ages can take part in this fun, interactive, and outdoors challenge. We want them to try and grow the TALLEST Sunflower possible, and if they win, they will get a brand-new children's bike or balance bike with help from our friends at Chris's Cycles. 

All you will need is one of our free seed packets, your sunflowers must have been planted from one of our seeds for you to enter. 

The seeds need to be planted towards the end of April early May to ensure they are in full bloom for our final. All you have to do is get growing! Remember to retain the Sunflower envelope as proof of entry for the final in August.

The top 3 tallest Sunflowers will be judged in a head-to-head competition. Keep checking back here, and listening on-air for details on how to upload your sunflower images at a later date.

It will take around 100-120 days for a sunflower plant to grow and flower from a seed– Seeds are available to pick up at:

Sunshine Radio – Unit 11, Burway Trading Estate, Ludlow. Location- HERE                        Wye Valley Butterfly Zoo – Symonds Yat West, Ross-on-Wye. Location- HERE
Handyman House – Monmouth. Location- HERE
TCM Carpets – Abergavenny. Location- HERE
Applegreen – Ludlow. Location- HERE
JMart – Burgess St, Leominster. Locations- HERE
JMart – Ashburton Road, Ross-on-Wye
Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre, School Road, Craven Arms. Location - HERE

If you are a school, and would like to have seeds dropped off, please fill in the form BELOW:

You can also find a step-by-step guide on how to plant and care for your Sunflower below:

It will take around eight weeks for a sunflower plant to grow and flower from a seed. Why not try making a chart to keep track of how much it grows each week! Getting ready:

You will need
1)    Plastic cup
2)    Soil
3)    Large flowerpot
4)    Plant sprayer (optional)
5)    Your Seeds!

You can also watch a brief tutorial below:

With thanks to our sponsors The Farm Patch, Ledbury and Wye Valley Butterfly Zoo, Symonds Yat. Find out more about these great local businesses BELOW:

Starting in 2020… The Farm Patch – formerly Country Pumpkins – is a family-run PYO business, based 1 minute from Ledbury, just around the corner from the Heineken* factory. 

In summer we grow a huge variety of cut flowers (Zinnias, Larkspur, Malope, Marigolds, and many more!) and several varieties of Sunflowers too. The Patch is the perfect spot for a summer picnic or a picturesque escape to the countryside. We offer food and beverages, including our delicious Pizzas – which are always a hit! There is also a Giant Sunflower Maze and Bee Trail to explore (and learn more about bees and their importance: You will find every kind of bee at the Patch, as there is an abundance of food for them). Guests can pick flowers and make their own beautiful bouquets. 

In Autumn the pumpkins are ready for Harvest! We don’t just plant a single variety like the traditional Harvest Moon either! We also grow several special spooky pumpkins – like Knuckleheads, Crown Prince, Spitfire, Zombie, and Chucky. There are also the extremely popular mini-pumpkins! Such as Jill be Little, Casperita, and Sweet Lightening. These are perfect miniature pumpkins for decorations and seasonal displays around the home. All our pumpkins are edible and very delicious too! Like the Summer season, we offer a range of beverages and our delicious pizza! 

At the end of the Halloween season, we allow gleaming charities to collect the remaining Pumpkins and we leave the Sunflowers for the wild birds and rodents to enjoy over winter. Visit their website HERE

You can walk with butterflies from around the world. Wye Valley Butterfly Zoo is indoors, it’s tropical and it’s teeming with exotic butterflies.

Living butterflies fly around as you discover their fascinating lives in close-up. They’re amazing.

See for yourself every stage of their life-cycle: Egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and some of the world’s most beautiful butterflies.
The butterfly farm is within walking distance of Forest Holidays in the Forest of Dean between Monmouth and Ross on Wye at Symonds Yat in the Wye Valley.

Visit their website HERE

SUMMER OF SUNFLOWER – CONTEST RULES
1.    The Summer of Sunflowers contest is open from April 26th 2024 and is open to participants living within the Sunshine Radio transmission area for the duration of 6 weeks or until all seed envelopes have been collected.
2.    You can be young at heart to enter, but you must be up to 16 years old to win.
3.    Official seed packets are available from the locations listed above.
4.    Only seeds provided by Sunshine Radio are to be used in the contest.
5.    Retain seed packet as proof of entry as this will be required for the final.
6.    Final measuring for the entrants must take place in the week of August 5th to the 9th. 
7.    Judging will take place at the locations of the 3 tallest sunflowers on August 19th to 23rd .
8.    Participants must make themselves available for judging on the above dates or risk forfeiting their place in the final. 
9.    Participants are encouraged to send in photos as part of their entry into the final.
10.     The final prize will be awarded to the tallest sunflower as measured from soil point to the highest possible stem point by the judges and only the judges.
11.     The judge’s decision is final.
12.     Sunshine Radio retains the right to substitute the prize in the event of problems with the supplier.
13.     Multiple entrants from the same address will be disqualified.
14.     Sunshine Radio reserves the right to disqualify any entrant deemed to have cheated in line with the Stations’ general contest T’s & C’s found here: https://www.sunshineradio.co.uk/general-contest-rules/ 
15.    Prize is a brand new Childrens’ Bicycle or Balance Bike, which must be collected from Chris’s Cycles, Evenjobb.