A KEEN gardener is hoping to rival growers across the country after one of his sunflowers grew to be taller than two men. 

Robert Taylor, 77, lives in Langdon Hills, and has been growing sunflowers with his wife for years.

After planting the seeds around two months ago, one giant sunflower has grown at an incredible rate.

The sunflower has hit a whopping 14ft 2 inches, equivalent to the height of two and a half average sized UK men, and can only be reached by using a stepladder. 

Wow- Robert says many people have been impressed with the size of the sunflowerWow- Robert says many people have been impressed with the size of the sunflower (Image: Robert Taylor)

Robert said: “The head of the flower is coming out now, so I imagine it’ll keep growing.

“My wife and myself both like doing gardening, my wife loves anything to do with the garden.

“We have a few friendly robins and blackbirds visit us and hover by our feet, and I do the digging and my wife does a lot of the garden.”

Robert said they use the Love Your Garden Website to look at other people’s “fantastic” gardens and share photos of their own.

He continued: “When I sent the pictures of the sunflowers, the response was, ‘Wow!’”

Robert's sunflower is still some way off the UK's tallest ever sunflower which was grown by Richard Hope, of Wigan who set the record in 2012 with a whopping 26-foot tall flower. 

The world’s tallest sunflower was recorded in Germany in 2014, which measured 30ft and one inch. It needed scaffolding to keep it standing.

Robert said: “Once it finishes growing and starts to die, we’ll cut the head off, keep the seeds and hopefully use them next year and get a giant, giant sunflower."