Alex Babich from Fort Wayne, Indiana said his sunflower had already surpassed the US record when it reached 26 feet and 8 inches tall.

Babich said his plant has continued to grow and is now within one foot of the current Guinness World Record: a 30-foot, one inch sunflower grown in Germany in 2014. The City of Fort Wayne is helping Babich’s world record attempt by providing a cherry picker to protect the flower (named Clover by Babich) from mischievous squirrels.

“I’m really proud. I’m from Ukraine originally, you know, we immigrated back in 1991, we escaped Chernobyl, and we came here, and we started living in Fort Wayne,” said Babich.

“It’s been fantastic here, and we just have so much support right now. They support us and we’re like thank you and we would like to give something back. So, let’s bring this record back to the US.”