Super duper sunflowers proved to be a towering success when they were entered by a St Albans primary into the district’s Schools in Bloom competition.
Children at Wheatfields Infant and Nursery School in St Albans grew the tallest sunflower for the competition and also came top in the Refreshing Water Prize category for devising innovative ways to collect rainwater.
Fourteen schools where pupils had cultivated plants, flowers and vegetables, battled it out for five prizes in the competition.
Star guests at the presentation ceremony were TV presenter Zephaniah Lindo, a host of BBC2’s Gardeners World who lives in London Colney, and the Mayor of St Albans, Cllr Frances Leonard.
The other winners were Bernards Heath Infant and Nursery School in the Wonderful Wildlife category for initatives such as bird boxes and log piles to attract animals, Redbourn Infant and Nursery for their Perfect Pollinators, using flower varieties in their garden that supported bees and other pollinating insects, and Camp Primary School for its Vibrant Vegetables.
The Mayor said: “As a keen gardener, it was wonderful for me to see so many children developing an interest in planting and growing.
“Schools in Bloom is also inspiring a lot of young people to learn about nature and helping their teachers to make this important subject more exciting. It was particularly heartening to find out the contest itself is growing like a sunflower with the number of entries shooting up this year.”
The prizes for the schools’ gardens included a water butt, bird table, watering cans, tiered grow house, oak barrels, bean planter and an apple tree.
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