Surviving sunflower grows 18 feet tall

Mt. Vernon’s Castillon gets crop washed out, save one

David Castillon planted 10 sunflowers in his garden in Mt. Vernon earlier in the spring, only to have all but one of them wash away when the 11-inch rainfall flooded his yard in May. The remaining sunflower, however, appears to be making up for the loss of the other nine. It’s grown to be about 18-feet tall, and is still flowering.
The flower is not in the same spot Castillon originally planted it.
“Apparently, this one got deposited from the flood, (but) not in the same row I planted them in,” he said. “I’m assuming it’s just one of the seeds that got washed into place in my garden.”
Castillon said he’s planted sunflowers before, in fact, he plants a whole row every year, but has never seen one grow so high.
“I can’t say I ever grew one that grew over 10-feet tall,” he said. “I was kind of worried it would blow over a couple of times, but it’s still standing out there and it’s still got flowers on it.”
The sunflower has also produced multiple blooms.
“It had at least 25 flowers on it at one time when I counted them,” Castillon said.
Castillon said he would plant seeds from the sunflower next spring to see if he will get the same results.
“I’m going to save a couple of the heads of the flowers … and plant the seeds next year,” he said.