In Fort Wayne, Indiana, Ukrainian Alex Babych set a world record by growing a 36-foot (10.9 m) sunflower, making it into the Guinness Book of World Records. The record was officially confirmed on September 3, 2025.
This was reported by Associated Press and website of the Guinness World Records
Babych, who was born and raised in Ukraine, immigrated to the United States at the age of 14 in 1991 after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. He began growing sunflowers as a symbol of his love for his native country.
“Sunflowers are the national flower of Ukraine, so they are special to me,” he said.
According to Babych, his love for sunflowers deepened after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“We pray that the war will end. And we hope that this will inspire people in the right places,” the man said.
The official measurement of the sunflower took place on September 3. A special lift was used for the official measurement, and the process of fixing the record gathered more than 80 spectators, including government officials and experts.
Alex has been growing sunflowers for seven years. His first flower reached 4 meters, but each subsequent year he improved his results - thanks to experience, experiments and a real passion for this business. In 2022 and 2023, he was already the US record holder, growing sunflowers over 7.5 meters high. In 2024, Babich had 10 flowers at once, each of which was over 6 meters high, but only this year did he manage to break the world record. The previous world record was held since 2014 and belonged to Hans-Peter Schiffer from Germany – 9.17 m.
The record sunflower was named “Clover” – Clover. The story of its name is also touching: Alex’s ten-year-old son, Kinai, placed four-leaf clovers he found on the sunflower leaves every day – “for luck”. Soon the flower will become the heroine of the documentary film Bloom.
In addition to records, Alex Babich actively promotes sunflower culture: he distributes seeds to children at festivals, plants flowers around campsites that he visits with his family.
Photo: Associated Press and website of the Guinness World Records
Author: Inna Mikhno