FORT WAYNE, Ind. — An Indiana gardener has shattered the world record for the tallest sunflower .
Named Clover, the flower towers 35 feet and 8 inches above the ground in Fort Wayne, in Allen County.
"There is nothing normal about this hobby," Alex Babich said in a telephone interview with 13News.
Babich says he has verbal confirmation from Guinness that he has set a new world record with Clover. He said the company is just working on a press release before giving him the official notice.
"I'm the first American to hold the record," he said. Previous record-breaking sunflowers were grown in Germany or the Netherlands.
'We are all engineers'
Clover is growing in a custom-made scaffold to support her as she grows. Once giant sunflowers get to about 10 feet tall, it's very easy f