Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Tallest Zinnia - world record set by Everett
Wallace Jr.
and Melody Wagner
RIEGELWOOD, NC, USA -- Everett Wallace Jr
.
and his fiance Melody Wagner
had grown a 12 ft 8 in
Zinnia behind their residence , setting the world record for
the Tallest
Zinnia
. 
Photo: Everett Wallace Jr. and Melody
Wagner pose with their Lucky Ladies- the world's
Tallest
Zinnia
( enlarge
photo
)
The record
breaking zinnias
measuring twelve-feet eight-inches grew
from heirloom seeds passed down from gardener Everett Wallace
Jr's family.
The hearty family seeds survived a hurricane
a few years ago prompting Wallace to name them his Lucky Ladies.
He says his mother taught him how to grow flowers when he
was a little boy.
"She always taught me how to take care
of the strongest ones of the litter. And that's done through
the stalk and the leaf of the plant."
Wallace began growing world
record zinnias
in Richmond in the 1980s and early 1990s
from a nearly 70-year-old seed stock he refers to as “ My
Lucky Ladies
,” passed down to him from his mother.
Everett's mother grew the flowers, so they
continued her hobby after she passed away. "It feels like
part of her carries on," said Melody. "It helps him. Whenever
he was little they grew flowers. It's just a reminder to him
of his mother, and he wanted to carry it on."
Zinnia
My Lucky Ladies
reaches 3 to 5 feet in height and
spreads to about 20 inches. Both double and single 3- to 5-inch
blooms display bright shades of pink, red, orange, and white
on thick, sturdy stems.
Zinnia
Elgans
naturally reach up to 9', but the couple has a
secret ingredient that helps their flowers grow a little taller.
"We have some special fertilizers and a few tricks that we
use," said Melody. "And what is that special fertilizers and
those tricks? Well we don't let all that out."
World
record Zinnias
grown by Everett Wallace Jr
. and
his fiance Melody Wagner
:
8'8" on 8/31/2004
9'8" on 9/26/2004
12'6"on 11/16/2004
12'8" on 10/23/2008
Everett says he and his fiance Melody Wagner
battled with Guinness World Records and paid them more than
$5,000 to get their certificates, making their zinnias officially
the tallest in 2008.
"A man in Florida had grown one that was
8 foot 4 inches," said Melody. "We broke his record with our
8 foot 8 inches, and then we broke our record with 12 foot
6 inches, and 12 foot 8 inches." They received a certificate
for the flower that was 12'8", but it was never documented
in the record book, and the other two records were over-shadowed
by the 12'6" flower.
Our
note: they should have contacted the local "Department
of consumer Affairs, the Weights and Measures Division"
and ask for an 'Inspection report' to be filled on-site with
the measurements of the flower(s). This way they wouldn't
wasted valuable time and a lot of money on 'measurements'
made very expensive 'adjudicators'.
World Record Academy publish ALL new records
on our site, distribute them for FREE on Google
News
and include ALL of them in the next printed Book
of Records.
More nature
world records
Wednesday,
January 6, 2010
