Onward and upwards!

Maybe Jack planted some beans in your garden Mel :)

Mmm... perhaps he did, Scottish! All that energy in one plant is quite amazing!

watch out for the golden eggs. lol.

That's amazing, Mel!

Golden eggs would be pretty good, Barbara! I wish I knew what was the cause of its success, Homebird! I would replicate it around the garden. It IS amazing, Tuesdaybear - and from the look of the growing tip, it still has a way to go!

Don't you love plants like that? I have V. thapsis, too and it branches out...looks like a saguaro cactus! Have a weakness for tall "architectural" plants like this...

So have I, Lori - I accept this one as a gift. I get one most years. They just arrive unbidden!

The V. thapsis that I have, Mel, is biennial. Each year in August and September the new plants put up a lovely rosette of misty green fuzzy leaves...beautiful! the following year they have the rosette but the flower spike emerges from the centre and towers over all the other garden plants...they give dimension to the beds..but since they like to place themselves it's not always guaranteed that they will be at the back of the border.. I marvel at the wonders of nature. ..as you say..unbidden.

Yes, it is amazing. Mine is quite near the front, but in a corner bit so not too out of place. Considering the size of it, I should get loads of self-seeders, but there's generally only one. Marvellous, I agree.

they are a favourite of the birds...and while they bloom, the bees! I was sorting out the mess of dried up leaves at the base of mine and nudged the stalk...the seeds rained down and got in my hair and down my shirt! 0^0

! Mine is definitely still growing upwards. It's almost as tall as my plum tree (which, having died, is now a bird feeding station).