Author: thebigsunflowerproject

In 2011 Rachel grew a variety of sunflower called Giant Russian which can grow anything from 6 – 15 feet tall. Rachel lives in Oswestry and two of her family are diagnosed with centronuclear myopathy. Rachel says:

When I heard about The Big Sunflower Project I wanted to get involved, as it’s a fun way to raise awareness of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy and sunflowers always put a smile my face.

I had recently cleared a big border of nasty weeds and needed something to fill the space quickly before the weeds showed me they were still boss. Behind the border was a high hedge, so the easy choice was the Giant Russian variety. I started my plants off on the kitchen windowsill and transferred them outside when they were a bit established, planting them one foot apart. They filled the space nicely and when they flowered, smiled over the top of the hedge at passers-by, meaning they could enjoy them too.

I had only ever grown sunflowers once before and they were the small ones which can be grown in pots with multiple flowers, so this was a first attempt at the big ones. They were a big success and the bees loved them.

I think the way for sunflower growers to out fox the slugs is to think big, even the hungriest of slugs will get full before making a big impact on Giant Russians. I didn’t feed my sunflowers, only gave them water – had I fed them too, I fear they may have turned into Triffids’.

Moorsholm in Bloom participated in The Big Sunflower Project for the first time in 2014. Below they write about taking part.

Moorsholm is a village on the edge of the North York Moors. Its name is of Viking origin and means a Moor.  RHS Britain in Bloom began in 1964 and today is one of Europe’s largest horticultural campaigns with more than 1,600 cities, towns, villages and urban communities participating each year to show off their achievements in  environmental responsibility, community participation and horticultural achievement. Barbra from the groups says:

Moorsholm in Bloom was formed in 2009 as a volunteer group mainly working in the grounds of St Mary’s Church. We found out about the work of The Information Point quite by chance but were really keen to show our support. Coincidentally the RHS were also using sunflowers in their campaigns to celebrate their 50th anniversary and we had to grow a really large batch of them, so we organised a seed sowing morning with the children in our Little Planters group as we had decided to use the seeds given to us by the Information Point in our community garden. The sunflowers were sown into fibre pots which can be planted straight into the ground without any disturbance but disaster struck just as our little seedlings were growing well. They were just such a tasty snack for the armies of slugs which have been around this year.

A second batch was quickly sown and the pots set on sharp grit which did the trick. Lovely healthy plants went into the ground in early June and they grew happily over the next few weeks. We grew Russian Giants together with a smaller variety called Teddybear. They have been fabulous growing to about ten feet high and admired by villagers, visitors and the National RHS judges who had their photos taken with them. We gave them a bit of company in the form of our anniversary scarecrows Roy and Al who loved sitting amongst the flowers.

The Information point is doing a great job in highlighting their work and we are proud to support them.

• Moorsholm in Bloom

Melissa lives in Florida USA and in 2012 and 2013 planted her own seeds and submitted photos of her sunflowers to help raise awareness of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy.

Melissa and her husband Matt are the founders of Hope from Harrison, a charity committed to raising awareness and resources for the families of critically needy children who require hospital or in–home medical care.

Hope From Harrison was created to honour the life and memory of their son Harrison Everett Hudson while providing relief, knowledge, reliable in-home care, and other specialty services tailored to individual patients and family needs.

• Hope for Harrison

Kay and Luke live in Connah’s Quay and have taken part in The Big Sunflower Project every year since it started in 2011. Luke and Kay are always very creative in the way they grow their sunflowers – using chopsticks and pencils as supports for their plants and planting their seeds in custard pots which they put down to their growing success.

Hazlehurst Studios is situated in the heart of Runcorn and houses artists with expertise in a range of disciplines including photography, textiles and printmaking. In 2014 the studios worked with the town development team and Halton Borough Council’s Arts Development team to encourage community groups, schools and residents to come together and create a garden on the high street with the aim of brightening and raising the profile of the area as somewhere people care about, as well as passing on some of the valuable skills of art and flower planting, to name a few. Recycling was also a key part of the project, with groups using tins as plant pots, which they painted in bright colours and designs.

The Studios were enthusiastic participants growing an amazing number of sunflowers and also helping promote The Big Sunflower Project in a number of ways including sharing their photos on Facebook and Twitter and running an adoption scheme for the sunflowers they grew.

• Hazlehurst Studios and the Old Town Bloom Project

In 2006 the community of Girvan in Ayrshire decided to turn a piece of land that had lain derelict for over 30 years into a community garden. The garden officially opened in 2011 and today, after much hard work, the garden caters for the whole community with its pond, a wildlife area, fruit trees, greenhouse, raised beds, a ‘keyhole’ garden and a composting area. The garden has easy access through a woodland walkway for prams and wheelchairs and a composting disabled accessible toilet.

The garden believes in community wellbeing and better health through gardening. It plays host to workshops, events and activities throughout the year and is involved with schools and other groups delivering projects both in the garden and out in the wider community.

Volunteer coordinator Julie Campbell says: Girvan Community Garden took part in The Big Sunflower Project because we simply love sunflowers, they are friendly flowers that everyone recognises and loves to see and they are totally insect friendly too. More importantly it makes more people aware of the work the Information Point is doing to help raise awareness for centronuclear and myotubular myopathy.

• Girvan Community Garden