Free seeds given out to start ‘smile of sunflowers’ in Southwick

Churches Together in Southwick and the Lighthouse Church in Fishersgate want to encourage people to planting sunflowers in front gardens, be it in pots, borders or balconies.

On Saturday, April 3, sunflower stations will be set up in Southwick Square, on Southwick Green, at churches in Southwick and Fishersgate, and at other locations across the area.

Laura Field said: “We hope to get the youngest to the oldest member of the community involved, with playgroups, community groups and care homes all growing.

“People are encouraged to share seeds or seedlings with friends, family and neighbours.

“An idea came about after many neighbourhood walks and noticing how flowers in front gardens can make us all feel that bit happier. The aim is to create a smile of sunflowers all around our community which makes residents, whether human, bee or bird, smile.

“The idea of the stations is to get free seeds to as many people as possible so everyone can start growing. Sunflowers can be sown from now until June and then should be smiling at us all from July until September. Some varieties can be sown direct in the garden whereas others can be started in a pot on a windowsill.

“Not having room to plant them out shouldn’t stop people from growing and getting joy from watching the seed germinate, as the next step will be taking spare plants and, with permission from Adur District Council, get them planted in public spaces, as well as seeing front gardens and balconies smiling with sunflowers.

“We’d encourage people to adopt one of the public sunflowers and help us care for them by giving them water when passing. We would love to see the message spread and have other areas join in with our smile and are asking people to share photos of sunflowers on social media with #smileofsunflowers.”