FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — Alex Babich has grown record-breaking sunflowers before. But this year, with one towering plant named Clover stretching 26 feet 4 inches into the sky, he’s just one inch shy of reclaiming the U.S. height record.
And this time, the biggest threat might not be the weather…it’s the squirrels.
Fort Wayne gardener falls short of threepeat for tallest sunflower in US
“They got two of ‘em already,” Babich said. “Climbed the fence, ripped leaves off, even before the heads grew. It’s like… this structure means something yummy’s up top.”
Babich, a Ukrainian-American gardener based in Fort Wayne, has built a local following for his sunflower-growing obsession. He currently holds the Fort Wayne record and previously set the national record twice…