Suffolk-based Thompson & Morgan has received another international award for its innovative Sunflower SunBelievable™ Brown Eyed Girl.

Suffolk-based Thompson & Morgan has received another international award for its innovative sunflower SunBelievable™ Brown Eyed Girl.

Initial trials of the long-flowering sunflower in Japan have proven hugely successful prior to its launch in the early summer of 2019.

The plant was well received at the horticultural industry show, Flower Trial Japan 2018, held in the prefecture of Yamanshi and Nagano, and was placed second in the Outstanding Performance Award category.

Thompson & Morgan’s head of Horticulture Paul Masters said: “We’re thrilled to hear that SunBelievable™ Brown Eyed Girl has won another international award. It is very encouraging to know that interest in the plant is spreading around the world! We’re looking forward to a successful launch of SunBelievable™ Brown Eyed Girl in Japan next year.”

Following its success at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May, SunBelievable™ Brown Eyed Girl has won an array of awards and accolades.

Proving hugely popular in the US, the new sunflower was awarded the Retailers’ Choice Award at the FARWEST Show in Portland, Oregon, as well as the 2018 American Horticultural Retailers’ Choice Award at Cultivate Ohio.

In the UK, at the Horticultural Trades Association National Plant Show, SunBelievable™ took gold in the annuals category, as well as the Best in Category (Annuals) and the Visitor Voted Best in Category (Annuals). The sunflower, which in trials, has produced over 1,000 blooms in the course of a season, also won the 2018 Four Oaks Trade Show ‘Best Plant Introduction Bedding or Pot Plant’.