WHO would have thought that the seeds of an elegant hollyhock would have made their way from a tiny village in France to Launceston, to flower into one of the tallest of its kind in the country?

Owner, Roderick Dawe, certainly didn’t expect it, and is now hoping for one of his hollyhock plants to shoot up and beat the British record at 15ft.

Roderick, from Launceston, and his mother, Shirley Church, have been tending to their bed of hollyhocks for almost three years, following a trip to the little French village of Talmont sur Gironde, where the plants twist and twine out of the paving stones along the streets, against the typically French villas.

On the trip, taking the family around France in Roderick’s campervan, they gathered some seeds from these impressive flowers in Talmont sur Gironde, and planted them at home in Launceston on their return.

Never did they think that when they planted the seeds, the flower would grow to an astonishing 13½ ft, shooting up by two inches each day.

Roderick — who often leaves the gardening to his mother, Shirley — was astounded at the ever growing plant, and now hopes it will beat the 15ft British record.

Shirley has been tending to the hollyhocks, but claims that she’s hardly watered or cared for them over the years in their garden that they refer to as ‘a full-time job’, despite their rapid growth. The world record for a hollyhock currently stands at 19ft and seven inches. An average hollyhock reaches approximately 6ft, and occasionally stretches to 9ft, so a case like Roderick and Shirley’s is very rare.

Roderick told the Post: “It’s just kept going and going! They’re a really lovely flower — I think in Victorian times, they would be planted near the toilets. The lady, when wanting to use the toilet, would then say ‘can I see the hollyhocks?’”

The enormous hollyhock, towering over Roderick and Shirley when stood next to it, is part of a newfound gardening hobby, with neither of them having ever entered any flower or plant competitions, although they’re sure the Royal Horticultural Society would be very interested.

Roderick continued: “It’s a great past time, and is very therapeutic.”

Although discovering that the hollyhocks prefer a thick and well manured soil, Shirley has hardly watered the plants, but continues to watch the 13 ½ ft plant grow day by day.

Shirley said: “If I knew it would grow so big, I would have fed and watered it!”

Roderick added: “It would be nice to make the world record, but you can only try.”