NEW FOREST TODAY
NEW FOREST TODAY NEWS
Local schools are growing giants!
Sunflower
New Forest pupils are competing to produce the ‘heaviest sunflower head’.
Pupils from five local schools and an education centre are competing to produce the ‘heaviest sunflower head’, grown from seeds and materials provided to them by Fairweather’s Garden Centre in Beaulieu.
Cadland, Fawley, Beaulieu, Lyndhurst, Blackfield and the Forest Education Centre are all busy planting their seeds in the hope that theirs will be the champion. Other local schools are invited to contact Fairweather’s on 01590 612113 if they would like their pupils to take part.
“This competition will help the children to learn about growing plants from seed, and hopefully they will appreciate the importance of plants in the environment, as well as adding an element of fun,” said Patrick Fairweather, Fairweather’s garden centre owner.
In October pupils will be invited to attend a ‘weigh-in’ event which will be held in Fairweather’s Learning Garden, where each flower head will be weighed and recorded. A prize will be awarded to the winning child and a separate prize given to their school.
Fantastic sunflower facts:
- Each sunflower head is made up of around 4,000 individual tiny flowers
- The Spanish brought the sunflower seeds back to Europe around 1510
- The sunflower is the national flower of Russia
Published 27 April 2010
