MEET Michael – the green-fingered Swindon schoolboy who has grown a sunflower with an astonishing 20 heads.

But the six-year-old's mum, Helen Ashby, revealed that the freakish plant might not have survived long enough to sprout quite so many had she not removed it from the firing line of stray footballs.

Michael's creation was born from a single potted seed, which he brought home his school, Swindon Academy.

When the Adver met the youngster yesterday, he had a big smile on his face and was full of pride about his sunflower.

Showing off how good he was at looking after his flower, he quickly pulled out a watering can to give it a drink.

Most sunflowers have one head and – although other types grow more – 20 is unusual.

“As more heads started appearing, I was really shocked," said Helen, a mum of five. "Everyone has been really amazed by how many heads there are.”

Michael brought the sunflower home in June and repotted it into a bigger plant pot to let it grow.

Once it started getting bigger, he and Helen changed the stick that was holding it up to match its height.

Helen said: “It was so small. We had it at home for a while and then because Michael likes to play football, we had to move it to my mum’s and dad’s.”

“Grannymar and Bumpy (his grandma and grandad) have been so good at looking after it. I’m so grateful.”

The secret to growing so many heads is shockingly simple. Helen told the Adver all she and Michael do is water it every night and keep it in the sun.

Telling of the reaction of Michael's teacher, Stefan Grabianski, when he saw the sunflower, Helen said: “He was amazed.

"It made him feel good because he gave them the seeds. So we also got given another one which is not as big.”

Michael has become a keen grower after the success of his sunflower and is turning his attention to a Venus flytrap, a plant with teeth that eats insects by catching them inside its leaves.

His sunflower doesn’t quite make it into the Guinness Book of World Records, with the most heads on one sunflower recorded being a staggering 837. That one was grown by Melvin Hemker in Michigan, USA, in 2001.