Eiffel flower: 7m Sunflower Closes In To Set A World Record

They say you reap what you sow - but Eve Fielding got a bit more than she bargained for when she planted a tiny seed that grew into a 23ft monster sunflower.

The grandmother expected the tiny seed to produce a plant of about 3.6m (12ft). But instead she has a 7m (23ft) beast that has been nicknamed the ‘Eiffel flower’. And if it grows any more, it could beat the world record of 8.04m (26ft 4in).

‘It’s enormous – I really can’t believe it’s grown this tall,’ said the 48-year-old. ‘I planted a few seeds with my granddaughter so we could have a race to grow the biggest one.‘This was one of the leftover ones, so I thought I might as well sow it and see what happened.

‘I watered it every day but I didn’t put anything special in the soil or anything daft. It just carried on growing.’

The Guinness world record for the tallest sunflower belongs to Hans-Peter Schiffer, from Kaarst-Voorst in Germany. His plant was measured on August 17, 2009.

But Ms Fielding, from Margate in Kent, could yet steal the crown. She said: ‘This is by far the biggest sunflower I’ve ever had.

‘My neighbours and visitors have all been quite surprised and shocked at the size – they think it’s a beast.

‘I’ve heard of people talking to their plants to make them grow and I’ve never done that but I have started telling it how well it is doing since it got really big.’

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