WHEN little Zach Thomson brought his sunflower plant home from nursery he never expected it to grow so big....

The three-year-old, who lives at Lowry Hill with his mum, dad and six-year-old sister, Ella, is over the moon that it his sunflower now stands at 11ft tall in his granny's garden.

Mum Tracey said: "Zach brought the plant home from Kingmoor Nursery and Infant School at the end of June.

"We took it out to my mum and dad's house at Armathwaite and they planted it in their garden."

The sunflower has pride of place in a garden bed along with some sweet peas.

Tracey said: "They planted it and Zach has been going out there every week to water it. My dad had a 12ft stake which he put in the ground so it could grow and that's all they've done to it really.

"It is in a sunny place in the garden and it has had plenty of water - especially with all the rain we've had over the summer.

"We never expected it to grow so tall though.

"It hasn't grown any bigger in the last week so it will probably die now."

Zach returned to nursery yesterday and was looking forward to showing his teachers some pictures of his giant sunflower.

Tracey, who works at Stanwix News on Scotland Road, said: "The nursery had asked if the children would take some photos of the sunflowers once they'd grown. I think they will get a shock when they see Zach's."

Zach, who will celebrate his fourth birthday on Tuesday, September 10, said: "It's massive."