'Like something from Jack and the Beanstalk' Couple stunned by 10 FOOT monster WEED

A COUPLE are hoping their monster weed measuring nearly TEN FEET could be crowned the biggest in the world.

Green-fingered Jean Parker, 59, and husband Carl, 54, reckon the barmy British summer has been responsible for their giant thistle.

They had been watering it with cold tea but were left gobsmacked when it shot up in the space of a few months in their back garden in Irchester, Northamptonshire.

The gigantic plant now towers over the couple after blooming to the astonishing height of 9ft 10ins (2.9m).

Care home worker Mrs Parker is hoping experts from the Guinness World of Records can verify their weed is the largest ever after doing some research on the internet.

The current world record for the tallest thistle is 8ft and is located in Ottawa, Canada.

Mrs Parker said: "We'd be over the moon if it won. Ours is bigger than the current record so hopefully it will be confirmed as the world's tallest. 

"It'd be really nice to be recognised. Most people are ashamed of weeds in their garden - but we love ours.

"Its like something from Jack and the Beanstalk.

"I've contacted Guinness World Records on their website and they said it should be around 12 weeks until they can come out and verify it.

"I just hope we can keep it strong and healthy until then - hopefully it will get even taller."

Gran-of-two Mrs Parker said the weed first appeared in their garden about 12 months ago.

She said: "Carl was tidying up in the garden last summer, and he saw this little plant and thought 'oh, that looks interesting, I won't dig it up - i'll replant it.

"And from then it just grew and grew and grew.

"It hasn't taken much looking after either - we just water it once a month with hot tea when there's warm weather.

"But because we have had all that rain this year, this is probably why it has shot up suddenly. It seemed to go on a growth spurt around May.

"It really is amazing how it has grown - the only other time we've had to look after it is when it was a really windy day once.

"I said to Carl 'we better stake that to hold it up, as I'll be gutted if the wind blows it over'."

The couple believe the prickly plant started life as a bird seed, as above the spot where it grew was a bird feeder.

It wasn't until the start of this week when Mrs Parker posted a picture of her next to the giant plant on Facebook, when she realised it might be a new world record holder.

She said: "I put a photograph of it on Facebook, and there were a couple of comments from friends saying that I should enter it into a competition

"So I sent the picture to my son as well and asked him for ideas - and he said to go on Facebook pages.

"So I ended up sending one to Gardeners World, and only got a comment getting a 'wow - and then to the TV show 'Love your Garden' with Alan Titchmarsh.

"I then started Googling on Monday to see if it was the tallest, and found that it is taller than the last recorded tallest thistle on the Guinness World Records website.

"I do like it - it is unusual. It's not an ordinary plant to have in your garden.

"It has also got a nice purple flower on top."

Window cleaner Mr Parker, a former part-time gardener himself, added: "I really like the plant.

"It is nice and structural, with it being silver it is a different colour to all the other plants, with it being so big it is just like a nice feature in the garden."