Sunflowers Bring Joy And Smiles Despite COVID Lockdowns

Despite battling COVID lockdowns and restrictions, joy and smiles have been apparent on the faces of children in 236 kindergartens nationwide thanks to sunflowers grown in the Daltons Sunflowers in Kindergartens Project.

Jed and Brooke with Sunflowers

Over the past four months, 11,694 kindy children have begun their journey as the next generation of gardeners, learning about gardening through competing to grow the tallest sunflower and widest sunflower head in their region.

The Project launched in August, the day before the nationwide Covid lockdown was announced which meant some regions have spent the vast majority or the entire duration of the Project in lockdown. Teachers had to adapt and get creative and have gone above and beyond to keep sunflowers alive and children engaged in the Project.
Today we can proudly reveal the winners below.

The goal of the biennial Project is to create a platform for children to learn about gardening in a practical way. They develop skills and a basic understanding of plants, through sowing seeds and growing seedlings, planting them out and daily care of their plants. Teachers also integrated aspects of the Project into their learning curriculum.

Teachers found the many Project work sheets and activities a vital resource when children were in lockdown and learning from home. Some regional restrictions also forced children to grow from home and in recognition of this a special award category was created, the Tallest Homegrown Sunflower, which was open nationally to participating kindergarten children who grew sunflowers at home.

Daltons General Manager, Colin Parker, says; “A massive congratulations to all of our 2021 winners! We want to thank our project partners and the 11 participating kindergarten associations. A big thank you to all the teachers who got behind the Project, despite the many challenges they faced pretty much from day one! We have been blown away at how they adapted, with some teachers making up individual packs for children to grow plants at home or taking seedlings to their own homes and caring for them until they were able to get back into their kindergartens. Through all of this they have kept children engaged and supported them to develop a love of gardening, which is what the Project is all about!”

Winners have been selected from each of the eleven regions (Auckland, Nelson Tasman, Marlborough, Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Taranaki, Tauranga, Waikato, Central Kindergartens and Northland) to reflect the diverse growing conditions throughout the country. The children grew King Seeds ‘Skyscraper’ sunflowers – which can grow over 4 metres tall.

All the regional winners will receive a prize from Daltons, The Warehouse and new project partner GARDENA for the Tallest Sunflower and Widest Sunflower head. All participating kindergartens were entered into a nationwide draw and a Best Photo Award to win prize packs for their kindergarten.

This year, the tallest sunflower nationwide came in at 2.74 metres and was cultivated by Oratia Kindergarten, Auckland Kindergarten association.

Teacher, Pip Stevens at Oratia Kindergarten, commented; “Growing our beautiful Dalton's Sunflowers from seed has once again been such an awesome introduction for our wonderful Tamariki to taking on the role of kaitiaki of their natural environment. We were all so excited to win even after lockdown delayed us from getting them into our shared garden, fortunately our teacher aide, Nicola, was able to keep them alive till we returned to kindergarten. Thank you, Daltons, for providing this wonderful, engaging, and enjoyable experience.”

NATIONAL PRIZE WINNERS:

· Tallest Homegrown Sunflower - Tilly Hellström, 4yrs, from Witherlea Kindergarten, Marlborough Kindergarten Association, 240cm

· Overall best photo - Birchwood Kindergarten, Nelson Tasman Kindergartens Association with their photo of Jed and Brooke, both 3yrs

· National Prize Draw - Koru Kindergarten in Stratford

OFFICIAL REGIONAL WINNERS:
Daltons Tallest Sunflower Plant Winners:

• Auckland Regional Winner: Oratia Kindergarten, 274cm – (first time winner!)
• Central North Island Regional Winner: Central Kids Otorohanga Kindergarten, 248cm – (2nd time winner & also won Widest Sunflower Head)
• Christchurch Regional Winner: Kidsfirst Kindergartens Cromwell, 209cm – (1st time winner)
• Dunedin Regional Winner: Bayfield Kindergarten, 160cm - (also won Widest Sunflower Head)
• Marlborough Regional Winner: Springlands Kindergarten, 182cm – (1st time winner)
• Nelson Tasman Regional Winner: Grove Street Kindergarten, 247cm – (6th time winner)
• Northland Regional Winner: Waitangi Kindergarten, 132cm – (1st time winner & also won Widest Sunflower Head)
• Taranaki Regional Winner: Devon Kindergarten, 177cm – (4th time winner)
• Tauranga Regional Winner: Tai O Fenua Kindergarten, 175cm – (1st time winner)
• Waikato Regional Winner: Frankton Kindergarten, 249cm – (2nd time winner & also won Widest Sunflower Head)
• Wellington Regional Winner: Marie McFarland Kindergarten, 141cm – (2nd time winner)

Daltons Widest Sunflower Head Winners (measurement is of the face only – not including petals):

• Auckland Regional Winner: Kauri Park Kindergarten, 20cm – (3rd time winner)
• Central North Island Regional Winner: Central Kids Otorohanga, 22cm – (also won Tallest Sunflower Plant)
• Christchurch Regional Winner: Kidsfirst Kindergartens Parklands, 17cm – (1st time winner)
• Dunedin Regional Winner: Bayfield Kindergarten, 8cm - (1st time winner)
• Marlborough Regional Winner: Witherlea Kindergarten, 7cm - (previously fourth time winner of Tallest Sunflower Plant)
• Nelson Tasman Regional Winner: Laura Ingram Kindergarten, 26cm - (1st time winner)
• Northland Regional Winner: Waitangi Kindergarten, 7.5cm - (1st time winner & also won Widest Sunflower Head)
• Taranaki Regional Winner: Marfell Kindergarten, 8cm - (1st time winner)
• Tauranga Regional Winner: Whangamata Kindergarten, 20cm - (1st time winner)
• Waikato Regional Winner: Frankton Kindergarten, 25cm - (2nd time winner & also won Tallest Sunflower Plant

About the Project
Daltons provided a free starter pack with everything the kindergartens needed to grow and learn about sunflowers.

Each kindergarten nominated their own 'Daltons Best Little Gardener' who was rewarded with a special certificate and prize. Every child who took part also received their own participation certificate as a special memento.

This year Daltons will also run the ‘Late Bloomers Awards’ to acknowledge kindergartens who have participated amidst a backdrop of ongoing lockdowns or have experienced particularly bad weather. These winners will be announced in February once all sunflowers have bloomed.

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