THIS year’s enduring summer has seen one Penhill man’s garden go from strength to strength.

Peter Smith, who lives in Avebury Road, has surpassed his previous efforts at growing a sunflower with a plant that has grown to around 14ft in height and produced a staggering 109 flowers.

And the 74-year-old puts his gigantic grower down to the long summer.

“It’s got to be this exceptional weather we’re having,” he said. “I water them with rainwater, so you never know, it might be that.”

However, retired Mr Smith is some way short of the record for the tallest sunflower, which is held by a flower grown in the Netherlands, which stood at 25 feet, 5.4 inches, according to the Guinness Book of Records, which also lists the most flowers grown from a single plant at 837.

In 2009, a gardener in Staverton, near Gloucester, made national headlines after raising a sunflower which sprouted 104 heads.

And despite not quite breaking any records, Mr Smith, who has lived in Penhill with his wife Eileen for more than 30 years, said his plant is attracting a lot of attention.

“People do talk to me about it,” he said. “And a few have even stopped to take photographs.”