You may have recently seen on our Instagram that we are currently running a sunflower growing competition amongst our staff at Narford HQ. Although it may seem like a small thing, there has been plenty of buzz in the office surrounding who is going to bag the title of ‘Sunflower Champion’, and with wine up for grabs, the competition is fierce.
It has been eight weeks since the sunflowers were planted and there has been plenty of growth or lack thereof for some, we aren’t naming names. Some employees opted to nurture their seedlings from their office desks, whilst others utilised our stunning Victoria Greenhouse on our Norfolk show site. For a handful of our colleagues this has been their first experience of planting a seed, whilst others already have plentiful experience in gardening.

On week seven the Russian Giant Sunflowers were re-potted into a raised bed in between the customer service and marketing offices, giving them the potential to grow over 10ft tall. All colleagues have used biodegradable bamboo pots to plant their seeds, as opposed to traditional plastic pots, an eco-conscious swap that is helping us to reduce our plastic usage as a company.
The Russian Giant Sunflower originates from North America, where it was first grown as a crop by indigenous tribes over 4,500 years ago and we are looking forward to seeing a row of glorious sunflowers in the coming months.
We feel passionate about making our company a fun and exciting business to be a part of, which is why we put on these small entertaining initiatives for our colleagues. By picking activities that encourage new skills and teamwork (or healthy rivalry in this case) we can build stronger relationships within our team, which allows us to provide even better service to our customers. Stay tuned to keep up to date with our sunflower competition, we look forward to announcing the winner!