Giant sunflower grown in Ottery wins growing competition

Five-year-old Lucy Randall cultivated the monster plant - 4.48 metres tall - in front of her house in Ottery St Mary.

Her sunflower beat all the others in the children's competition, which was run across the company's seven garden centres.

Asked how she managed to grow such a huge plant, Lucy said that after planting the sunflower seeds in pots using compost from Otter, she put them at the front of the house where there was plenty of sunshine. She said: "When the shoots started coming through, we cut up some old water bottles to protect them.”

One plant started doing particularly well, growing bigger and bigger. Lucy’s dad Iain said: “As it grew taller, we staked it with a 6-foot bamboo cane. Then we progressed to 8-foot - but by the end we were using three canes lashed together. I had to climb on the roof of our car to tie the cane to the sunflower.”

Otter Garden Centres gave away 500 packets of seeds to children wanting to take part in the competition. Earlier this month, participants were asked to send photographs of their sunflowers to Otter’s marketing team - and although there were many impressive entries, the winner was immediately obvious.

Otter Garden Centres MD, Jacqui Taylor said: “Lucy’s sunflower was by far and away the tallest entry. It really captured the spirit of the competition, and we are all in awe of her gardening skills!”

Jacqui also commended Lucy's creative approach to protecting the young plants. “Lucy’s resourcefulness in using recycled water bottles to protect the sunflowers during their early stages is a wonderful example of sustainable gardening practices that we can all learn from.”

Lucy visited the Ottery garden centre with her dad Iain and mum Chloe to collect her prize; a £20 gift card and her winner’s certificate. Along with every child who entered the competition, she also received a voucher for a free drink and cake in the coffee shop.