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Belfasttelegraph

News [1]
Opinion [2]
Business [3]
Sport [4]
Life [5]
Entertainment [7]
Travel [8]
Sunday Life [9]

Menu Sections

Campaigns

April 2015

Volunteers from Danske Bank jump for joy at Seapark, Holywood, for the launch of the Big Spring Clean 2015 yesterday. A free clean-up kit is available by registering at www.liveherelovehere.org

Big Spring Clean: Join the anti-litter army set to sweep across the country

It's spring at last - and it's time to tackle the detritus that has gathered over the winter months.

September 2014

Winners of our fun sunflower competition revealed

We've searched the country far and wide. And we've scoured hundreds of photos, all in search of Northern Ireland's tallest sunflower.

August 2014

New heights: The giant sunflower grown by Mavis Garvin is measured by her daughters

The skyscraping sunflower that rivals Jack and the Beanstalk

Hold the front page - our Bloomin' Marvellous sunflower-growing competition has a new front runner.

Lucy and Henry McCleary spotted a tiny sunflower on Ballywalter beach

The little sunflower that made a big impact on beach

We've been searching far and wide for the tallest entry in our sunflower growing competition – but here's our smallest!

Rodney Thompson with his sunflower at his home in Bangor

Three tallest sunflowers so far make their bow in competition

So you think you've seen some big sunflowers in our pages? Well, look again - these magnificent blossoms are outstripping them all.

Belfast Telegraph's Linda Stewart with Tom McClean

Tom blows us away with this windswept wonder from east

It's a lofty, windy location overlooking Belfast - yet reader Tom McClean has done the impossible and reared a huge sunflower in his exposed garden.

It's a tall order, but can you beat these sunflower heights?

Is your sunflower Bloomin' Marvellous?

Tall order: Belfast Telegraph's Linda Stewart with Dolores McAllister's sunflower

Scaling new heights in our tallest sunflower quest

Wow! This sunflower has really blown us all away.

Linda Stewart with Margaret Hanna's 77-inch high sunflower in Belfast

Blooming miracle as sunflower climbs to dizzying height of 77 inches or 1.25 Lindas

It's the first time Margaret Hanna has experimented with sunflowers – and she's proved herself to be a natural.

Transplant Games: Grateful golden girl Kathyrn reflects on her gift of life

A teacher who underwent 10 hours of kidney dialysis a day for four years will today return as one of the stars of the Northern Ireland Transplant team after winning five medals.

Back: (from left) Turlough O'Hagan, Geoffrey McCracken, Francois Du Plessis and Andrew Weir. Front: Janet Coleman, Kathryn Glover and Hannah Kee

53 medals are scooped by our Transplant Games heroes

Gold, silver and bronze medals will be making their way back to Northern Ireland today after a team of inspirational athletes won more than 50 medals at the UK Transplant Games.

Mighty sunflower originated in South America

Sunflower cultivation a growing industry, so here's another tall tale

So, did our stunning sunflower competition yesterday inspire you?

So, how does your sunflower measure up against this big yellow beauty (and our Linda, who's little smaller)?

Belfast Telegraph readers have sown their seeds - and now we want to see the results.

July 2014

Hilltop setting scales the heights

Dizzying vistas with glorious colours shimmering in the distance – it can only be the Large Country Garden category of our competition.

Helen Trainor on the bridge in her winning garden

Rural oasis in the heart of suburbia

They're the cream of the crop - the beautifully put together gardens that came out on top in our £4,000 Bloomin' Marvellous competition

'Lyrical' garden is a fitting tribute to Killyleagh man's late wife

Wild orchids, camomile lawns and Tibetan prayer flags - every corner of Mike Hartwell's garden near Killyleagh offers a surprise.

Blooming Marvellous competition: First two winners in Belfast Telegraph's £4,000 competition revealed

It's here at last! For months we've been searching for Northern Ireland's finest gardens as part of our Blooming Marvellous competition.

Judges Averil Milligan and Trevor Edwards in Mrs Gerry Wilson’s garden

Blooming Marvellous: Who's caught the judges' eye and is in final garden bunch?

We've scoured hundreds of photographs of lovingly tended gardens – and now it's Judgement Day.

The spectacular garden of Helen and Barry Crawford

Glorious gardens: We reveal our first batch of finalists

Vivid colour and verdant planting – these are the first finalists in our Blooming Marvellous gardening competition.

David Johnston has transformed the 'bare field' where his house was built near Loughgall in 1991

Snap up a share of our garden cash pot £4,000 on offer for most inspirational entries in Tele's competition

Feast your eyes on these scintillating colours and intriguing spaces – the entries into our Blooming Marvellous gardening competition are giving us a severe case of garden envy.

June 2014

Ken and Betty Rankin relax in their garden

Bloomin' Marvellous: An inspiring cornucopia of colour

Cast your eyes over this cornucopia of colour and texture. Are you feeling inspired yet?

A bullfinch is a welcome visitor to the garden of John and Noeni Bryars

Bloomin' Marvellous: Haven just what the doctors ordered

Two retired doctors – who can count herons, foxes and squirrels among the visitors to their stunning garden – are enjoying their own version of The Good Life.

Anne McKiver, a director at KiverCo recycling plant near Coalisland, Co Tyrone, said the new emphasis on apprenticeships as a means of getting someone qualified to doctorate level was a “good idea”

50 Jobs in 50 Days: Prince championed our campaign to create jobs for young

The Belfast Telegraph's 50 Jobs In 50 Days campaign came to a close on May 1 after receiving the enthusiastic championing of HRH the Duke of York, who launched our campaign in March. It surpassed its target, and succeeded in obtaining pledges to create 60 apprenticeships from companies big and small – from IT firm Fujitsu's pledge to take on nine apprentices to McGreevy Engineering's commitment to take on one young person.

Can you grow the tallest sunflower? A special green-fingered challenge to all our readers

Today the Belfast Telegraph is sending out a challenge to all our green-fingered readers – can you grow the tallest sunflower?

May 2014

Flower power: Hilary and Jim Rafferty in the garden of their Ballymena home

Not so secret gardens - Need inspiration for Belfast Telegraph gardening competition?

When it comes to each other's homes and gardens, most people would confess to being a little bit nosey sometimes. As if the popularity of television shows such as Ground Force and Changing Rooms wasn't testimony enough to our desire to create our own ideal personal space, green-fingered enthusiasts in Northern Ireland can often spend a small fortune over a lifetime on sprucing up their lawns and beautifying their begonias.

Corey Morgan (8) and Nataliah Dzieciatko (8) run for their lives from the scarecrows at Garden Show Ireland

Alys Fowler: Northern Ireland should really dig hardy perennials little more

TV horticulturalist Alys Fowler has said Northern Ireland's gardeners should take inspiration from 18th century cottage gardens – and try growing perennial crops.

Volunteers from McDonald's at Dundonald celebrate the success of the Big Spring Clean at Sea Park Beach

Big Spring Clean: 100,000-strong... green army that waged war on litter

We asked if we could count you in to our Big Spring Clean – and the answer was a resounding 'yes'.