Win a sunflower bundle for birds

To enter, simply click on the buttons below and follow the instructions. Increase your chances of winning by completing all of the entry methods.

T&M & HB Sunflower seeds

Thanks for taking part in this exciting giveaway in partnership with Happy Beaks, a brilliant bird seed supplier with a wealth of garden bird information including a British bird library and bird feeding tips.

The prize

The sunflower bundle for birds prize includes:

Sunflower seeds and hearts are a helpful source of nutrition for our feathered friends, but these brightly-coloured blooms are just one of the plants that will attract birds to your garden. Looking for more bird-friendly ideas? Try these…

Top 5 garden plants for birds

Bird eating sunflower seeds

Birds feed from the heads of sunflowers in autumn
Image: Sunflower ‘Russian Giant’ – Start-A-Garden™ Seed Range from Thompson & Morgan

If you love to see birds in your garden, it’s easy to fill a few feeders with good quality bird food. But with a little planning, you can also pack your borders with the plants, flowers, shrubs and trees that provide the vital food and shelter they need. 

Here are five plants that will attract birds to your garden:

1. Sunflowers

Bunch of sunflowers with dark centres

These distinctive gold and bronze sunflowers look great in containers
Image: Sunflower ‘Solar Flash’ F1 Hybrid Seeds from T&M

Sow sunflower seeds from March onwards to enjoy a spectacular display through summer and into autumn. Easy to grow, simply choose compact varieties if you want to grow them in containers and small borders.

When the brightly-coloured flowers have faded, they form large, round seed heads. Rather than cutting the stems down, leave them in place as a high-energy food source to sustain visiting birds throughout the year. Rich in essential nutrients like protein, healthy fats and carbohydrates, the seeds are especially valuable during colder months or when other food is scarce. Finches, long-tailed tits and nuthatches particularly enjoy sunflower seeds.

2. Crab apple tree

Red crab apples

The yellow fruits of this crab apple deepen to a dark glossy scarlet in time for Christmas
Image: Crab Apple ‘Red Sentinel’ from T&M

Crab apple trees vary in size, from compact specimens suitable for container gardens through to full-sized varieties that reach 5 or 6m tall. Benefiting from a long season of interest, they produce a profusion of pink or white blossom in spring followed by small fruits that mature in autumn and persist well into winter.

Crab apples are especially loved by starlings, thrushes, waxwings and blackbirds. The unharvested fruits soften after a few frosts to create a nutritious snack for the local feathered community.

3. Holly

Red holly berries with variegated leaves

This variegated female variety produces a fabulous display of scarlet winter berries
Image: Holly ‘Golden King’ from T&M

Holly can be grown as a thick, evergreen hedging plant or a tree. Easy to grow and maintain, you can clip it into a formal shape or leave it to grow more naturally. The green leaves provide a perfect backdrop for the scarlet berries that remain on the plant until late winter. You’ll need a male and a female plant for pollination – only the females produce berries.

Loved by blackbirds, redwings and song thrushes, the small, calorie-rich holly berries are a convenient food source for a wide range of birds throughout the winter. Packed with carbohydrates and healthy fats, they offer a concentrated source of energy that helps birds maintain their body temperature and overall health in harsh weather conditions. But it’s not only the berries that birds love. Holly leaves are dense and evergreen, providing secure shelter from predators.

4. Ivy

Closeup of ivy leaves

Providing a paradise for wildlife, ‘Woerner’ makes a wonderful evergreen hedge
Copyright: Alamy Stock Photo

Ivy is a shade-tolerant, evergreen climber that quickly covers walls, fences and trellises with a leafy display. A great way to conceal an eyesore, it’s easy to grow and doesn’t require fixings to help it cling. If left unpruned and allowed to establish itself, ivy becomes more shrubby. In this adult phase, it flowers every autumn and produces berries in winter.

A versatile source of food and habitat for birds, densely-grown ivy is a valuable haven. Its thick foliage provides protection from predators and harsh weather conditions, making it an ideal habitat for small birds such as wrens, robins and sparrows. Additionally, the intertwined stems and leaves create a complex and secure environment that birds can use for building their nests. In terms of food, the small, dark berries are a rich source of calories, helping birds sustain their energy levels. Thrushes, blackbirds and starlings relish these berries, while birds like robins and wrens enjoy feasting on the wide variety of insects that make ivy their home.

5. Honeysuckle

Orange and pink honeysuckle

In sheltered gardens ‘Gold Flame’ retains its rounded green foliage all year round
Copyright: Darby Nursery Stock Ltd

If you don’t have much space, traditional climbing honeysuckles are a clever way to make your garden more bird-friendly. Trained over fences, pergolas or trellis, the gorgeous flowers bring a welcome flush of colour and scent to any garden.

Honeysuckle serves as a valuable resource for birds, offering both nourishment and habitat within its intricate growth. The twining vines and dense foliage provide hiding spots from predators and safe spaces for nesting. In terms of food, honeysuckle produces small, nectar-rich flowers that attract insects. These flowers eventually give way to clusters of berries that are an important food source for birds like warblers, thrushes and finches in the late summer and autumn months. The ripening berries also offer a concentrated energy supply at a crucial time for birds that are preparing to migrate.

We hope this has helped you to incorporate more plants and flowers for birds. For a wealth of information and advice on wildlife gardening, visit our dedicated hub page.

Terms & Conditions

  1. This competition is open to UK mainland residents aged 18 or over.
  2. No purchase is necessary to enter this competition.
  3. The promoter is Branded Garden Products Ltd, trading as Happy Beaks and Thompson & Morgan
  4. The Competition opens at 11.59am on 14th August 2023, and closes at 11.59pm on 27th August 2023. Entries received after that date and time will not be considered.
  5. Employees or agents of Happy Beaks, Thompson & Morgan and related brands – Branded Garden Products, their families or other persons connected with this promotion are not eligible to enter.
  6. To Enter: use the Gleam widget and choose from the methods available.
  7. If you have any questions about how to enter or in connection with the Competition, please email us at blog@thompson-morgan.com. Do not email us to enter; only email if you have difficulties using the online entry form above.
  8. There will be one winner randomly selected who will receive the prize of bundle prize of:
    1x Happy Beaks Sunflower Hearts – 5kg
    1x Happy Beaks Carriage-Style Lantern Seed Feeder
    1x Seed Collection Tin

    1x Sunflower ‘Choco Sun’ – Seeds
    1x Sunflower ‘Solar Flash’ F1 Hybrid – Seeds
    1x Sunflower ‘Ms Mars’ – Seeds
    1x Sunflower ‘Harlequin’ F1 Hybrid – Seeds
  9. Entries on behalf of another person will not be accepted and joint submissions are not allowed.
  10. The winner will be chosen from a random draw of correct entries.
  11. The winner will be notified by email within 3 working days of the closing date. If a winner does not respond within 14 days of being notified, then the winner’s prize will be forfeited and the promotor shall be entitled to select another winner.
  12. If a winner rejects their prize, then the winner’s prize will be forfeited and the promotor shall be entitled to select another winner.
  13. The Prize is non-exchangeable, non-transferable, and is not redeemable for cash or other prizes. Branded Garden Products Ltd retains the right to substitute the Prize with another prize of similar value in the event the original prize offered is not available.
  14. Branded Garden Products Ltd may request that the winner participates in publicity arising from the Competition. The winner is under no obligation to participate and may decline this request. Participation is at the winner’s discretion.
  15. If you agreed to sign up to our mailing list, you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and catalogues from Happy Beaks, from which you can unsubscribe at any time. This is a voluntary entry method, and not a mandatory condition of entry.
  16. If you agreed to sign up to our mailing list, you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and catalogues from Thompson & Morgan, from which you can unsubscribe at any time. This is a voluntary entry method, and not a mandatory condition of entry.
  17. By submitting your entry, you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.
  18. Branded Garden Products Ltd accept no responsibility for any damage, loss, liabilities, injury or disappointment incurred or suffered by you as a result of entering the Competition or accepting the prize.
  19. All entries must be made by the entrant themselves. Bulk entries made from trade, consumer groups or third parties will not be accepted. Incomplete or illegible entries, entries by macros or other automated means (including systems which can be programmed to enter), and entries which do not satisfy the requirements of these terms and conditions in full will be disqualified and will not be counted. If it becomes apparent that an entrant is using a computer(s) to circumvent this condition by, for example, the use of ‘script’, ‘brute force’, masking their identity by manipulating IP addresses, using identities other than their own or any other automated means in order to increase that entrant’s entries into the promotion in a way that is not consistent with the spirit of the giveaway, that entrant’s entries will be disqualified and any Prize award will be void.
  20. Branded Garden Products Ltd reserves the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, this Competition with or without prior notice due to reasons outside its control. The decision of Branded Garden Products Ltd in all matters under its control is final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into.
  21. Branded Garden Products Ltd reserves the right to disqualify entries if it has reasonable grounds to suspect that fraudulent entry has occurred.
  22. Branded Garden Products Ltd shall not be liable for any failure to comply with its obligations where the failure is caused by something outside its reasonable control. Such circumstances shall include, but not be limited to, weather conditions, fire, flood, hurricane, strike, industrial dispute, war, hostilities, political unrest, riots, civil commotion, inevitable accidents, supervening legislation or any other circumstances amounting to force majeure.
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Sunflowers masterclass: best expert content

Sunflowers in vase

Sunflower SunBelievable™ ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ is an exclusive Chelsea finalist available only at T&M
Image: Sunflower SunBelievable™ ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ from T&M

A welcome sign of summer, sunflowers are bold, bright and beautiful. They’re also easy to grow from seed! We’ve scoured the internet to find the very best articles, videos and Insta posts to help you grow these popular blooms. Whether you want to enter a giant in a local competition or fill your borders with dwarf, multi-stemmed stunners, these expert tips will give you an excellent head start. 

Browse our full range of sunflower seeds for even more inspiration.

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More Awards for T&M’s Sunflower SunBelievable™ ‘Brown Eyed Girl’

More Awards for T&M's SunBelievable™ 'Brown Eyed Girl

Following its success at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May, our fantastic in-house-bred sunflower, SunBelievable™ ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ has won even more 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 (HTA) 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 long-flowering sunflower also won the 2018 Four Oaks Trade Show ‘Best Plant Introduction Bedding or Pot Plant’.

Our Head of Horticulture, Paul Masters, commented:

“We’re very proud to have won so many prestigious awards for SunBelievable™ ’Brown Eyed Girl’ both in the UK and abroad. To have gained international recognition for our fabulous sunflower is a great success for Thompson & Morgan.”

With online and catalogue sales topping 100,000 plants in the UK, SunBelievable™ is also proving to be incredibly popular in the USA where it has been well received at all the top trade shows and in trials prior to its retail release in 2019.

“Customer feedback for SunBelievable™’Brown Eyed Girl’ has been extremely positive” says Peter Freeman, our New Product Development Manager. “We’ve been amazed at the plants’ performance this summer – particularly through the heatwave and drought conditions. Those that were planted in the first half of the summer are still flowering now!”

At our Floral Fantasia garden at RHS Garden Hyde Hall this summer, at which hundreds of varieties of annuals were on display, SunBelievable™ ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ proved to be the favourite of the majority of the almost 140,000 visitors to the gardens.

Paul Masters also commented that there would be further exciting introductions to come in the SunBelievable™ range. Watch this space!

Sunbelievable™ 'Brown Eyed Girl'

It’s Sunbelievable™! World exclusive new sunflower from our own breeding programme

‘Sunbelievable™’ features:

  • Very floriferous and free-flowering
  • Stunning bicolour blooms
  • Multi-branching
  • 1,000 flowers over the growing season
  • Fabulous cut flower
  • Hugely decorative patio plant
  • Truly compact – Height: 60cm (24in) Spread: 100cm (39in)
  • Day length neutral – blooms even on shorter, less bright days
  • Sterile – so no pollen but still very attractive to bees
  • Heat tolerant – great for hot, sunny borders
  • Thrives in any well-drained soil
  • Will recover quickly if left to dry out
  • Deadheading improves flowering performance

Today we’re launching our latest world exclusive plant breeding success. Sunbelievable™ is a truly phenomenal new sunflower. Like no other sunflower, Sunbelievable™ flowers continuously from June until the first frosts. In trials, plants were still blooming in late November. Incredibly, over 1,000 flowers are produced on each plant during the growing season!

Paul Masters, T&M’s Head of Horticulture, said:

“Sunbelievable™ is an amazing breakthrough in decorative plants for the garden in an area that has been distinctly lacking in innovation in previous years. We expect this fabulous new sunflower to make a real impact in people’s gardens – its non-stop blooming will appeal to sunflower lovers and gardeners everywhere.”

Set to create quite a media buzz, Sunbelieveable™ is the product of eight years of work by our breeding team. Head plant breeder, Charles Valin’s vision was to breed a sunflower that was long-flowered and which could be used and enjoyed as a bedding plant as well as in containers.

Charles comments:

“I was always disappointed by the garden performance of traditional pot sunflowers. I’ve crossed the very best with the very best to really boost the plant’s performance. I still can’t believe how many flowers this plant can produce! I also realised that it was the energy that the plant put into setting seed that was preventing it from flowering for long. So I aimed to create a new hybrid that would not set seed and would therefore carry on flowering all summer long.”

Sunbelievable™ is available exclusively from our website for delivery from April 2018. £14.99 for a 9cm potted plant or £19.99 for two 9cm potted plants (saving £9.99).

For more advice on sowing and growing sunflowers, visit our hub – a one stop shop for everything you need to know about growing these gorgeous showy annuals.

 

Thompson & Morgan awards record-breaking £1,000 for tallest sunflower

Thompson & Morgan awards record-breaking prize money to gardener with 24ft sunflower. A gardener with a lifelong passion for sunflowers has won £1,000 following a nationwide hunt for the UK’s tallest specimen. Seed and plant specialist Thompson & Morgan announced the biggest ever cash prize for a tallest sunflower competition back in spring, in a bid to see the world record brought to UK shores.

Tallest Sunflower Thompson & Morgan

Richard Hope with his 24ft sunflowers growing in his Wigan garden. Photo: Wigan Evening Post

Tallest Sunflower Thompson & Morgan

Richard Hope with his 24ft sunflowers growing in his Wigan garden.

The bumper prize attracted entrants from around the UK, from gardeners young and old. There were some stand out specimens sitting between 12-14ft (3.7-4.3m), but the clear winner – at a staggering 24ft (7.2m) – was grown by Richard Hope. The Wigan gardener is well-known on the giant veg growing circuit, having held previous world records for the biggest swede, heaviest leek and longest parsnip. Grown against a sunny wall of his house, his giant plants reach the apex of the roof three storeys up!


Sadly, his giant entry was shy of the world record by 4ft 8in (1.4m), but Mr Hope still has his sights on beating the 8.75m (28ft 8in) sunflower grown by Hans-Peter Schiffer of Kaarst-Vorst, Germany in 2013. For the past 35 years Mr Hope has been hand pollinating his plants, saving seeds from the tallest and sowing them the following year, over time building a superior sunflower strain.Most impressive is that he grows his plants in make shift containers rather than in the soil, with no specialist feeding formula. “I use salmon boxes with large bottomless pots set over them, similar to tomato ring culture method. It gives the plants about two and half feet of compost to grow in,” he says. “There are no real tricks to feeding my plants either, I use whatever I happen have in the shed.”


You might assume Richard starts his plants off early indoors under heat and lights to get such results, but there is no such trickery. “I sow my seeds in the first week of April every year. Along with height, my seed strain has evolved a really long season of growth, so the plants keep on climbing right through to October.” In fact, due to mild autumn weather, Mr Hope’s plants piled on a further 1ft (30cm) in between entering in early October and verification at the end of the month.


Despite there being no world record breaker, the gardening experts at Thompson & Morgan were more than impressed with the winning entry, and the runners up. Horticultural Director Paul Hansord said: “We’ve not had much sunshine this year, but sunflowers have certainly done well in UK gardens. We were excited to see entries of 12,13, 14ft coming in – impressive heights by any means. When Mr Hope’s entry hit our inbox we couldn’t believe it. We sent our closest area sales manager to verify things, who quickly called to say we should get the company cheque book ready!”


Thompson & Morgan is upping the stakes for 2016 and will again be offering £1,000 for the tallest UK sunflower, but if it breaks the world record the prize money will be upped to £2,000. And if a gardener breaks the record using the mail order specialist’s incredibloom® fertiliser, the prize pot will be doubled again to a staggering £4,000. Mr Hansord added: “We’re so confident of the plant boosting abilities of our fertiliser range that we’re willing to heavily reward anyone who can grow a world record sunflower with it in 2016.”


Thompson and Morgan offers 37 different sun flower varieties from giants like ‘Tall Timbers’ F1 to multiflowering types like ‘Helios Flame’ F1, and dwarf varieties including 2ft (60cm) tall ‘Little Dorrit’ F1.

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