Peter Kollias grew a sunflower this year that towers over all the others – it even stretches above his backyard shed.
The New Hyde Park resident has been growing sunflowers in his South Third Street backyard garden for about 15 years.
Despite growing one that is more than double his own height, Kollias said he did nothing special when gardening this season.
“I just watered them,” he said.
Kollias and his grandson, Michael Farrell, estimate the sunflower clocks in at 13 feet though it got pretty hard to measure, they said.
Kollias has been gardening for most of his life, he said.
He grew up on a farm in Greece and eventually moved to Jamaica, Queens.
When he met his wife, he moved to New Hyde Park to raise his family, he said.
(Photo by Rebecca Klar)
He has resided in New Hyde Park for 44 years.
Frank Kollias, one of Peter’s two children, said he always remembers his father gardening.
“Even when he was younger, when he used to work two jobs, he’d come home and always look over the lawn,” Frank said. “Walking around the house, he would be watering always, mowing the lawn always. He’d be in and out of the flowers, just messing around.”
Peter doesn’t just grow sunflowers.
He grows different fruits and vegetables. Currently, his cucumber plants are growing around the 13-foot flower, he said.
Now, Peter’s plants mainly grow on the perimeter of this lawn. But when Frank was growing up there used to be a whole back corner of the lawn sectioned off for different plants, Frank said.
“We used to play soccer or whatever … we always used to get yelled at for the ball going in there, knocking his tomatoes over,” Frank said.
Farrell said he also remembers his grandfather’s garden from his childhood.
When Farrell, now 17, was 3 years old, he wanted a tree, he said.
His grandfather planted a few for him, on a spot in the backyard where a deck now sits.
“Every night he used to come here to water the tree,” Peter said. “‘I want to water my tree, I want to water my tree’, he’d say.”
One of the trees still remains in the yard, next to the shed.
More than four decades after he first started planting in his backyard garden, Peter said he has no plans to quit.
And, of course, he said he’ll continue growing his sunflowers.
