Tale of the Limerick pupil and the giant sunflower!

EARLIER this year, 10-year-old Lorcan McNamara from Pallaskenry planted some sunflower seeds, eager to see what would happen and hoping that they would grow.

To his astonishment, and great delight, one sunflower in particular, not only grew but kept on growing. It grew and grew and grew until it was over 20 feet tall.

So big did this ‘Beanstalk of a Sunflower’ grow that one of Lorcan’s neighbours had to be brought in to help stake it.

“It has one huge big flower with ten more coming off it,” Lorcan explains.

Lorcan, the son of Stephanie and Larry and a pupil at Scoil Mhuire NS, has become a bit of a convert to gardening. Last year, he set some tomatoes but this year, he branched out into peas, lettuce and even carrots but the real star performer has been his giant sunflower.

Lorcan’s mother, Stephanie bought the seeds. “We have a porch so we let them grow there,” Lorcan explains. “Then we placed them outside.”

Why one in particular has grown as tall as the house remains a mystery but one that has brought smiles not just to the McNamara family but also to the neighbours.

Lorcan says he will probably try to save the sunflower seeds to use in next year’s crop of sunflowers. For now, though, he is planning on trying his hand with some winter pansies.

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