Ukrainian immigrant sets world record for growing tallest sunflower

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA/Gray News) – An Indiana man has set a new world record for the tallest sunflower.

Alex Babich immigrated to Fort Wayne from Ukraine in 1991. He says when he began gardening, he never imagined how far the journey would take him.

“I started growing just organic vegetables to show my kids you can grow stuff organically and reap the reward later,” Babich said.

Seven years ago, he grew his first sunflower, which is the national flower of Ukraine.

“It was 13 feet tall. Then, the following year, we planted a sunflower and it was 15 feet tall and I was like, ‘This is pretty cool. Let’s see how far we can go with this,’” Babich said.

In 2022, Babich set the U.S. record for the tallest sunflower, measured at 25 feet. The following year, he beat his own record by a foot.

That’s when the dream of going for the 30-foot world record, set in Germany in 2014, became real.

“My wife said, ‘Alex, I’m going to pray that you smoke the world record this year.’ And I looked at her and started laughing,” Babich remembered. “I remember that day, I said, ‘You think I can grow a 30-foot flower?’ Everybody has tried in the world. The best growers in the world have tried this.”

He promised his wife he would go for it.

Alex Babich, climbs on the structure that surrounds his nearly 36-feet high sunflower that holds the world record for the tallest flower at his home in Fort Wayne, Ind., Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.(AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Sure enough, just last week, the sunflower, named Clover, was measured at 35 feet 9 inches; that beats a record that was once deemed unbeatable by a large margin.

“It’s crazy, but we beat the Guinness World Record by her height,” Babich joked, referencing his wife. “Isn’t that insane?”

According to Babich, Guinness has already received all of the documents needed to make the record official.

Fort Wayne man’s world record for tallest sunflower becomes official(Staff)

In the meantime, Babich is soaking in all of the support he has been shown.

“I’m overwhelmed with support from Fort Wayne,” Babich said. “This is a great city. This is fantastic.”

Babich publicly shares his gardening endeavors on Facebook.

“I’m glad that I was able to give back because I was accepted by Fort Wayne when we immigrated from Ukraine and we stayed for 30 years, and we just love it here,” Babich added. “So, I’m glad to give something back to Fort Wayne, so that’s kind of cool.”