Massive sunflower rockets in Bonaero Park
The sunflower plant was measured to be 3.55m and it seems to still be growing.
The helianthus annuus, commonly known as the a sunflower, is normally grown for its edible oil extract, among other things.The seeds of the sunflower plant are also used for bird food which is how a family in Bonaero Park suspects they woke up to a 3.55m high sunflower in their garden.
The flower didn’t grow overnight, but its existence was a surprise.
“We didn’t plant the flower but three months ago we started noticing that something was growing in the garden,” said Alanda de Beer.
“We continued using compost as per normal, and it appears to have been good for the plant, as it literally kept growing on a daily basis which amazed my husband, Deon, as well.
Deon’s aunt and uncle, Retha and Piet van der Merwe, moved into the flat on the premises five months ago and brought with them a family parrot. The family suspects the sunflower unintentionally grew due to the parrot cage being close to the garden.
“The cage was placed next to the garden where the sunflower is and because we feed the parrot sunflower seeds, we suspect that the seeds landed in the garden when we cleaned the cage,” said Piet.
“The other sunflower plants that started growing at the same time as this big one are still very small while this one keeps rocketing.”
Alanda told Express that they posted photos of the flower on Facebook and their friends were also just as surprised.
Retha said although they were amazed by all of this, she was happy to witness nature’s beauty in their garden.
“I have never seen such a big sunflower in my life, but it definitely is wonderful to watch nature take its course,” said Retha.
“The flower started to crown a week ago and it is beautiful. Most people say that once it starts to crown then it starts to bend but we want to see how big it will get; it honestly is a blessing.”
