Sunflower season brings blooms and Sunzilla
Sept. 2, 2022 | By Lisa Scagliotti 
Sunflowers grow in the bed beside the Waterbury Fire Department station on Main Street. Photo by Nancy Oakes
It’s that time of the summer as gardens overflow with summer vegetables and flower gardens are on full display.
Planting sunflowers is always popular in Waterbury where the Waterbury Rotary Club’s annual Hunt for Sunzilla rewards the growers of the standout giant blooms every September. The popular contest takes place next Thursday, Sept. 8, at Rusty Parker Memorial Park at what is also the final Waterbury Farmers Market of the season.
Many of the sunflowers you see in public spaces around town are the work of the local garden club, A River Runs Through It, with members in Waterbury and Duxbury.
On Main Street, a row of sunflowers beside the firestation stretches up to eight feet. The club planted them with seeds donated by John Malter, organizer of the Sunzilla contest and from Marasha Huber from a project called Vermont Plants Sunflowers for Ukraine. Sunflowers have become particularly popular thyis year in the wake of the war in Ukraine given that it’s the country’s national flower.
“Gazing down from giant green stalks, these brown-eyed beauties with crowns of yellow, russet, and gold add a bright and cheery presence to Waterbury’s hub,” wrote Nancy Oakes from the garden club as she shared a photo of the blooms.
Every summer, the club’s green thumbs plant and tend the curbside gardens alongside the firestation and Bidwell Lane, also in the barrels at the Winooski Street bridge, Dac Row Park’s entrance, and the Newton Baker Park on Stowe Street. They also tend the gardens bordering the Old Center Cemetery and encircling the gazebo at the Center Green Park in Waterbury Center.
The Hunt for Sunzilla is on
Waterbury Rotary’s 29th annual Sunzilla competition takes place Thursday during the Waterbury Farmers Market at Rusty Parker Park, starting at 5 p.m. Growers of all ages are encouraged to bring their biggest and best specimens for judging. Prizes will be awarded for the tallest sunflower, largest diameter, and heaviest sunflower head.
Organizer John Malter noted that one event modified due to COVID-19 remains in its new format: Instead of sunflower seed-spitting, there will be a sunflower seed tossing-for-accuracy contest for kids 12 and younger.
Speaking of biggest and best, the sister contest to Sunzilla is the Hunt for the Other Green Monster – in search of Waterbury’s largest and heaviest zucchini, of course.
One cautionary note about the event: “We recommend that people keep their cars locked following this contest or you could wind up with a year's supply of the fixings for zucchini bread in the form of one zucchini,” Malter added with a wink.
The Rotary’s co-sponsors for both competitions are Waterbury True Value Hardware, Evergreen Gardens, Sunflower Natural Foods, and the Waterbury Farmers Market.
Look for more Sunzilla information online at waterburyvtrotary.org/community-events or call Malter with questions at 802-244-7373.
Any gardener will tell you they’re already thinking of what they will grow next year. And in that spirit of looking ahead, A River Runs Through It is always looking for new members to join in its many summer projects.
“[The club] promotes pride in our community by enhancing our living spaces through gardening projects, in our parks, and public areas, along with our roadways and within our own neighborhoods and gardens,” Oakes said.
To learn more about volunteering on local horticultural projects, contact Ruth Hoogenboom at hoogenboom.ruth@gmail.com.
And may the best sunflowers (and zucchini) win on Thursday.