VICTORIA Wakefield has a garden full of giraffes.

They are not the long-necked creatures but at 16ft they are almost as tall.

The expert gardener has bred a super-tall variety of sunflowers in the gardens of her home, Bramdean House, near Alresford.

She named the variety Giraffe.

Victoria, 75, said: “We have had a ghastly summer but the sunflowers have done wonderfully and they are absolutely stunning.”

The public got the chance to see these giants for themselves as Victorian’s five-acre garden opened to the public on Sunday as part of the National Gardens Scheme

The gardens have been taking part in the scheme’s open days for 70 years – exactly the same length of time that Victoria at lived at Bramdean House, which was bought by her parents in 1944.

In addition to the avenue of sunflowers, the garden is well-known for its mirror-image herbaceous borders and at present there is an impressive display of 30 different varieties of dahlia.

Giraffe seeds are available from Suttons with all the profits going to a children’s charity supported by the seed merchants.