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23

Sept 2021

Harrogate
Harrogate

At more than 14 feet, is this Harrogate's tallest sunflower?

Published: 23 Sep 2021, 17:49 BST

by Connor Creaghan

Comment

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Seven-year-old Eirwen Phoenix started nurturing the plant when it was just a few inches tall, as part of a school project. With a lot of tender, love and care it has blossomed to reach 14 feet.

eirwen-tall-sunflower-1
Young Eirwen is very proud of her sunflower/

A seven-year-old Harrogate girl has grown what could be the town's tallest sunflower.

Eirwen Phoenix started nurturing the 14-foot plant when it was only a few inches tall, as part of a school project with the Kumon Centre in Harrogate.

She kept it on a sunny windowsill at first, tending to the plant every day. Soon it was strong enough to go outside.

After around two months the sunflower shot up and is now in full bloom with multiple heads.

It has grown so tall that Eirwen's parents are concerned it might become a health and safety hazard.



Harrogate experienced quite high winds last night and throughout today. So much so that the sunflower has started to lean quite considerably.

So there may just be a couple of days left to see the sunflower spectacle on East Parade near The Hearing Suite.



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An excited and proud Eirwen told the Stray Ferret:

"This sunflower is big, big, big! So maybe the seeds it will produce might be just as tall, maybe even bigger than this one.
"Maybe if there is less wind next time we can keep it up forever. I am not going to go for double, I want to try to reach 100 feet next time."




Sarah Phoenix, Eirwen's mother, added:

"At the end of the summer holidays when Eirwen had to submit the final height to her school we had to get the stepladders out.
"Even then we couldn't reach the top of it. At that point it was just short of 14 feet and it has grown even more since then as it has flowered."