Record heights

Just how tall can a sunflower get? Taller than a house — and the chase to grow the tallest is a wonderfully international, decades-long story.

The tallest recorded, by country

A quick note on honesty: only the world record is officially tracked by Guinness World Records — there's no formal register of national records for every country. The figures below are the best-documented sunflowers we could find for each country. If you know of a better verified one, tell us and we'll add it.

Notes: Schiffer's 9.17 m stood as the world record from 2014 until 2025, and he broke the record four times between 2009 and 2014. Fellow German grower Burkhard Grendel reached 8.58 m (28 ft 2 in) in 2024 — equal second-tallest ever recorded. Van der Velde's 9.18 m was reported in 2025 as a single-stem sunflower and was awaiting formal verification; the previous Dutch record had stood since 1986.

Other sunflower records

Height isn't the only thing growers compete on:

• Heaviest flower head — 6.446 kg (14.2 lb), grown by the Fortey family (UK). That's heavier than a bowling ball — from a seed line the family say is over 100 years old.
• Largest sunflower leaf — 68 × 87 cm, also the Fortey family (UK).

The story behind the record

What's most remarkable about giant-sunflower growing is how collaborative and international it is. The seed behind the 2025 world record came from a swap with German grower Burkhard Grendel — and the line traces back to Brian Moore in New Jersey, USA, who crossed a tall single-headed sunflower with a wild multi-headed one.

Every champion says the same thing: the secret is saving seed from your tallest plant, year after year, and swapping with other growers. Alex Babich's first sunflower was a modest 4 m; seven years of patient selection later, he had a 10.9 m giant. The Dutch record-chaser Jeroen van der Velde started with a single seed from his mother at age 10, and has been refining the line for nearly three decades. (Our seed-saving guide shows you how to start your own line.)

It also takes serious commitment: giant growers build scaffolding to support their plants, tend them several times a day all season, and hire cherry-pickers just to measure them.

The tallest in your country

You don't need 10 metres to top a board. Sunometer keeps a live leaderboard of the tallest sunflowers our growers have posted — in every region, country, and worldwide. So the "tallest in your country" is decided by real growers, updated as the season unfolds.

Fancy a go?

Start with a giant variety (see types), follow the growing tips, sow as early as your frost allows (check your region), and give it the whole season to stretch. Then measure it properly — and if you ever do beat a national record, Guinness will want a formal, witnessed measurement.