GARDENERS had to get their stepladders out this week - to measure the giant echiums growing in the garden.

The plants in the Italian border at National Trust-owned Beningbrough Hall and Gardens near York have reached a towering 4.3 metres high – the same height as a female giraffe.

Kate Wilkinson, the gardener tasked with measuring the plants, said: “It wasn’t as straightforward as simply getting a tape-measure out. I had to climb a stepladder, and even then it wasn’t enough.

“With the measuring tape attached to the end of a bamboo cane, I was just about able to reach the top of these amazing plants”.

Echiums typically grow to between 2.5 and four metres and can take up to two years to reach their full height.

Some of the flowers on the echiums at Beningbrough are still to open, meaning they could still be growing, helped by this year’s mild and dry winter and spring.

Ms Wilkinson added: “These are certainly the biggest of their kind that I’ve seen.

“There might be gardens in warmer parts of the country that can beat ours, but I think we’re in contention for northern champions at least.”

Echiums are native to the Canary Islands, but are now cultivated in gardens across Britain and Ireland.

The plant’s native habitat is laurel forests, where it is now endangered through habitat loss.