Local Schools are Growing Giants

[SarahF]

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 if they would like their pupils to take part. A detailed pack on instructions and exercises that support the National Curriculum are included.

Patrick Fairweather, Fairweather’s Garden Centre owner says “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”.

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