How wonderful would it be to wake up every morning to a garden filled with the brightest flowers, a happy sunflower (or 20), and fresh vegetables growing all around?
Laetitia du Preez, a Florida resident is living the colourful dream every day of her life. Her fairyland garden is filled with the most beautiful flowers, tomatoes, corn and two very unique characters. “I always had a love for a garden filled with flowers,” she said.
Photo: Halisje Crous.
Laetitia’s joyful spirit and personality definitely suit the meaning of her name — happiness.
At the beginning of the year she noticed something starting to sprout in her back yard, and identified it as an ordinary sunflower. “I throw out seeds for the birds, and one day I noticed a little stem growing next to where I throw the seeds. I immediately knew it was a sunflower, because they are my favourite flowers,” she explained.
Very soon she noticed that this one was a very special sunflower. It keeps growing and is currently standing at four metres, with leaves with a diameter of 41 to 45 centimetres. Passing motorists and pedestrians have a unique view of the flower peaking over the two metres high wall, spreading joy to all who pass by. “It keeps growing every day. I last measured it on Sunday, 1 March, and it already looks taller than it was on Sunday,” she added.
She then noticed another sunflower growing, but this time not in length but in mass. One stem that carries 20 sunflower heads is standing proud in her garden.
The sunflower that holds the world record grew 9,17 metres tall and was grown by Hans-Peter Schiffer in Karst, Nordrhein Westfalen, Germany.
Who knows, maybe her unique sunflower could end up setting a new record.
