Summer

The largest ‘sunflower house’ in America opens in New England this summer

The attraction boasts 100 varieties of sunflowers.

The Sunflower House in Woodstock, Vermont. Sunflower House

July 2, 2021

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A massive sunflower attraction is opening later this month in Vermont. The 20,000 square-foot Sunflower House, billed as the “largest sunflower house” in the U.S., opens July 31 at Billings Farm & Museum in Woodstock.

The house was created by Benjamin Pauly, master gardener at the Woodstock Inn & Resort. The maze-like structure, complete with rooms and hallways, is double the square footage of last year’s house. It contains thousands of sunflowers — 100 varieties — ranging from 18 inches to 14 feet tall. They provide “a kaleidoscope of colors, sizes, and blooms,” according to organizers.

“Although it’s popular for its picturesque structure, the sunflower house serves the greater purpose of providing native flowers for butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds,” Pauly said in a statement.

The sunflowers will peak in mid-August and produce blooms through early September.

Billings Farm & Museum will host a free guided meditation walk at the house on Aug. 22 with light refreshments that include herbal tea infused with herbs grown on the farm. Then on Aug. 28 and 29, the certified Bee Friendly Farm will host a Pollination Celebration.

Pauly also heads up Woodstock Inn & Resort’s Kelly Way Gardens and is known as the “tomato whisperer” for growing nearly 60 types of tomatoes on the resort’s 3.5-acre certified organic garden. He is also the mastermind behind the Gourdwalk, a path that’s 135 feet long and nine feet high with a trellis archway covered in 17 varieties of hanging gourds.