Tag Archives: garden

Muggles Take an Early Lead

The first measurements have been taken in the Bull-Knox Sunflower Contest 2022.

The tallest flowers so far are Hufflepuff 1 and Muggle 1 both coming in at 16 cms. Each team has two flowers contributing points.

SunflowerHeight in cms 01/05/2022
Hufflepuff 116
Muggle 116
Ravenclaw 114
Gryffindor 213
Slytherin 113
Slytherin 213
Muggle 212
Ravenclaw 211
Gryffindor 111
Hufflepuff 210

Team Hufflepuff may have the joint tallest flower, but they also have the smallest flower, meaning Team Muggle top the leaderboard at this stage. See the scoring system here.

House Points Leaderboard:

Team Muggle130
Team Hufflepuff110
Team Ravenclaw110
Team Slytherin110
Team Gryffindor90

Team Muggle:

Helomi

George

Nicky

The Loud Lambs

Team Hufflepuff:

Fozzy

JK

Mommy Bear

Zoe

Team Ravenclaw:

Dave H

Knoxie

Mazza B

Nigel

Team Gryffindor:

Danielle

Anon

Team Slytherin:

Laura Lemming

It’s not too late to join a team.

Slytherins, don’t be shy. No one is judging your house allegiance here. The only thing being judged is the sunflowers!

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Have these sunflowers bloomed too soon?

More sunflowers have shown their yellow faces in the Bull-Knox Sunflower Contest 2020.

Bull-Knox and Wooper were first to bloom and have now been followed by Sprilbey, Shmelling Gramps, and Knoxley.

With judging day still two weeks away, the keen flowers may find they have peaked too soon.

Flowers will judged on 1st August with the tallest and the prettiest being crowned winners.

Naughty is currently the tallest. Can she hang on to the high spot?

Naughty sunflower still leading the way

Four sunflowers are peeking over the side fence. Naughty, who was first to sprout, was also the first to reach fence height in the Bull-Knox Sunflower Contest 2020. She was shortly followed by neighbouring competitors,  Shmelling, Sprilbey and Wooper.

Positions to the right of the side fence seem to be the place to be with all flowers growing well. Helomi is still struggling height wise in the middle of the fence, although she appears to be healthy.

Sunflowers along the side fence
Team side fence

Four of the sunflowers along the front fence were late to the party  and have some catching up to do.

sunflowers along a blue fence
Front fence squad

All competitors are enjoying the sunshine and will be hoping for more in their quest to advance skywards.

New arrivals take their places

Steclaire, Buddha, Carmma and Holts finally made it to Fort Bull-Knox on Sunday. They had initially been too weak or hadn’t sprouted and organisers feared they would all make an early exit from the Bull-Knox Sunflower Contest 2020. The troubled plants were given extra time under the special care of Moomin Papa and have all made fantastic recoveries.

Two spares had been planted at the outset and, as all the original competitors have made it into the Fort Bull-Knox garden, the spares were adopted by two keen sunflower contest fans. Welcome to the contest and good luck to Dennis and Fozzy.

All of the arrivals were planted in random order along the front fence.

Meanwhile, the plants along the side fence have been growing well, with the exception of Helomi. There’s always one!

The flowers were measured on 17th May 2020 and here are the standings.

Team USA 40
Shmelling 39.5
Knoxley 39
Bull-Knox 38
Flower 38
Wooper 38
Baby G 37
Gramps 36
Naughty 36
Moomins 32
Sprilbey 28
Steclaire 26
Bears 22
Helomi 19
Dennis 19
Carmma 9
Holts 9
Fozzy 8
Buddha 5

 Team USA is leading the way.

Sunflower plant Tallest

Buddha needs some encouragement.

Tiny sunflower Smallest

The 2020 competitors reach Fort Bull-Knox…mostly

Most of the sunflowers have been transferred to the hallowed soil of Fort Bull-Knox and were planted in random order along the fence.

Side fence (left to right): Baby G, Bull-Knox, Flower, Knoxley, Moomins, Helomi, Gramps, Shmelling, Sprilbey , Naughty, Wooper
Front fence (left to right): Team USA, Bears

Baby sunflowers along the fence
Take your places.

The remaining four flowers, Buddha, Carmma, Holts and Steclaire, took self isolation too far and failed to show up for the contest. In the spirit of lockdown love, they have been given a second chance and will remain under the care of Moomin Papa until they decide to join the fun. They will then be planted along the front fence if or when they are ready.

So, who’s looking good so far? I hear you cry from afar.

Gramps is looking strong.

Gramps, a competitor in the 2020 contest
Gramps 

Flower and Knoxley are in good shape.

Flower and Knoxley, two competitors in the contest
Flower and Knoxley

Sprilbey and Wooper are doing well.

Sprilbey and Wooper
Sprilbey and Wooper

Bears is probably the smallest of the bunch so far but baby bears often grow into big bears!

Bears, a competitor in the Bull-Knox Sunflower Contest 2020
Baby Bear

The tallest flower on judging day will be crowned the winner of the Bull-Knox Sunflower Contest 2020. Those that can’t be big can still be beautiful and will be in with a chance of winning the Indie award for the prettiest sunflower.

The Results of the Bull-Knox Sunflower Contest 2019 are in

Ricarah soars up to the sky to be hailed the tallest flower, and Daisy is named the prettiest sunflower.

The step ladders had to come out of the shed for judging day of the Bull-Knox Sunflower Contest 2019.

Lady up ladder measuring the tallest sunflower

Ricarah was the tallest, measuring in at a whopping 266 cm. Shmelling was the next tallest at 258 cm with Gramps close behind on 257 cm.

Ricarah, Shmelling and others are yet to bloom so could get taller but it’s the height on judging day that matters!

As it was Knoxie’s birthday weekend she accepted the invitation to judge the prettiest flower to win the Indie Award 2019.

Sprilby and Moomins were close contenders but after much consideration, Daisy was declared the prettiest sunflower.

The final measurements for all the competitors are below (in centimeters) along with Knoxie’s comments in the judging of the prettiest flower:

Ricarah 266 Not out yet, late to party
Shmelling 258 Not out yet, late to party
Gramps 257 Facing the wrong way, prefers the neighbours
Bears 247 Lots of buds
Daisy 233 Pretty face, lots of buds and favoured by bees
Naughty 230 Lots of buds
Pears 225 Nice leaves and pretty face
Sprilby 222 Good face and leaves are in good nick
Helomi 215 Not out yet, late to party
Team USA 212 Has a bumble bee on, attractive to bees
Buddha 198 Not out yet, late to party
Bull-Knox 197 Bent over and a bit dead
Baby G 196 Wonky face and has been eaten by insects
Steclaire 190 Not open yet and has a bent stem
Moomins 182 Cute with lots of little buds but face is still coming out
Dennis the Menace 160 Very dead and bent over like an old man
Holts 154 Moon face

Chart of sunflower growth
How the sunflowers grew

The relocation of the contest from the rabbity dangers of the back garden into the front garden has been a success. For the first time ever, all sunflowers survived the duration of the contest, and record heights have been achieved.

Well done to all competitors and thank you for taking part. Tune in next year for the 2020 competition.

The Bull-Knox Sunflower Contest: Update

The sunflowers in the Bull-Knox Sunflower Contest 2019 have been measured and guess who’s out in front so far? Bull-Knox!

The competitors in height order are below along with a one word description:

Bull-Knox, 140 cm, tall

Bears, 134 cm, wonky

Gramps, 132 cm, leafy

Team USA, 130 cm, sturdy

Pears, 129 cm, handsome

Shmelling, 129 cm, yellowy

Ricarah, 125 cm, steady

Daisy, 122 cm, holey

Dennis the menace, 118 cm, lanky

Baby G, 117 cm, speckly

Sprilby, 109 cm, curvy

Naughty, 107 cm, bendy

Holts, 102 cm, straight

Moomins, 97 cm, skinny

Steclaire, 96 cm, dainty

Buddha, 88 cm, thin

Helomi, 86 cm, pretty

Sunflowers against the side fence
Side fence sunflowers

Sunflowers along the front fence
Front fence sunflowers