Never too late to bloom

Two kindergartens were announced today as winners in the Daltons Late Bloomers competition, which is part of the popular Daltons Sunflowers in Kindergartens Project. Awards were given to the kindergartens that grew the Late Bloomers Tallest Sunflower and Widest Sunflower Head.

Last year Daltons decided to add the Late Bloomers Competition to the campaign to acknowledge kindergartens whose sunflowers may have been affected by the weather or weren’t in bloom in December. The Late Bloomers competition ran from Monday 14th December to Tuesday 9th February to allow the sunflower plants to bloom during the summer holidays.

Daltons General Manager, Colin Parker, says; “Sunflowers grow so fast and are perfect for children because there’s an instant reward for their hard work. Sometimes the weather doesn’t play the game so we added the Late Bloomers Awards to give a little more time for those who needed it. We’ve been delighted with the feedback and are always impressed with the children’s dedication to their sunflower plants. A big congratulations to our winners!”

Central Kids Tokoroa Early Learning Centre took out the Late Bloomers Tallest Sunflower award with their sunflower plant measuring in at an impressive 3.21 metres, boasting a stem as thick as the teacher’s arms! The plant is now the tallest ever grown in the project!

Teacher, Mary Birks says; “We are all delighted to have won the Tallest Sunflower. Along the way we battled frosts, hot days and lots of other challenges from Mother Nature so we really appreciated the opportunity to submit our sunflowers in for the Late Bloomers Awards.  Every day we had a group of tamariki who would water and attend the plants. Our tallest sunflowers are 3.21 metres and growing! We really found the overall project inspiring and provoking for our Centre whānau. The tamariki and kaikao all took part in the initial potting and watching the tiny seeds develop.  We want to thank Daltons for providing everything we needed to grow these magnificent sunflowers.”

Ranui Kindergarten, part of Auckland Kindergarten Association won Late Bloomers Widest Sunflower Head award with their whopping 51cm wide sunflower head which weighed in at a stunning 7kg! It’s the widest and heaviest ever in the project.

Head teacher, Kelly Chaston says; "We had to get one of the parents to help harvest and carry it for us! The children worked very hard planting the Kings Seeds sunflower seeds in the starter pack and continued to nurture them until we finished for the summer holiday. Although we planted seeds in August I think the changeable weather delayed the flowering of our sunflowers. We were very excited to see how big they had grown over the break. Now we are looking forward to this years’ Daltons Sunflowers in Kindergartens challenge!”

The winning kindergartens will receive a Daltons prize pack with a range of products they can use in their gardens, plus a framed photo of their stunning sunflowers.

The Late Bloomers Awards are part of the 2015 Daltons Sunflowers in Kindergartens Project, now in its fourth year. The project provides hands on opportunities for kindergarten kids to learn about gardening.   The kindergartens received a free sunflower starter pack containing Daltons Potting Mix, biodegradable pots, Kings Seed Skyscraper sunflower seeds, an extra long measuring tape, seed sowing and growing guides and  growth charts. 
The project also offered great numeracy and literacy learning opportunities through basic maths like measurement, number recognition via weekly recordings of their plants growth. Plus children learnt responsibility with the daily care of plants.  Teachers also received support material throughout the project to help bring the learning to life with fun sunflower facts and activities.
Kindergartens from ten regions around New Zealand took part; Auckland, Nelson Tasman, Marlborough, Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, New Plymouth, Tauranga, Waikato, and newcomer, Central Kindergartens.

 

Look for these products, tips and advice at a Go Gardening Store near you.

Passionate little gardener Lydia Haugh (aged 4) from Tokoroa ELC, standing under the impressive 3.21 metre winning sunflower. Photo by Claire Birks

Ranui Kindergarten teachers measuring their winning Late Bloomers Widest Sunflower Head which was 51cm wide and weight over 7kg. Photo by Claire Birks