Little Ben’s sunflower is the blooming best
A three year-old boy won Ludlow in Bloom's tallest sunflower competition, with his winning flower measuring nine feet tall.
Ben Macleod from Ludlow watched the sunflower seeds being planted, helped with watering and marvelled as they eventually grew taller than the garden fence.
His mom, Jo Macleod, said Ben loved the whole process and they were delighted to have won the tallest sunflower lockdown competition.
"They normally do Ludlow in Bloom every year as a big competition," Jo said.
"This year they couldn't do a big competition because of lockdown and so they did a smaller competition with a few categories.
"I saw it advertised on a Facebook page and the children's category was for the tallest sunflower. There was first, second and third prizes up for grabs.
"We had actually already planted the sunflower seeds back in around May, so we thought why not enter and see how they grow.
"Ben helped throughout the process – planting seeds, watering them and watching them grow.
"He really enjoyed seeing the progress and thought it was cool. Our tallest one measured about nine feet, it was pretty huge."
The Ludlow in Bloom committee wanted to hold a contest in honour of the attention people have paid to their gardens while in lockdown.
Entries could be made within a seven mile radius of Ludlow, and the categories were 'best garden', 'best hanging basket', 'best large vegetable', and, for children, 'largest sunflower'.
