IT'S double the size it should be and shows real flower power.

At 3.6ft this amaryllis houseplant dominates the conservatory after it became too tall to move.

Yet green fingered Southampton pensioner Barbara Snow is baffled as to why the plant which normally grows up to 1.5ft tall has shot up.

Barbara, 79, of Holbury, said: "It's in the conservatory and I can't bring it into the house because it is too tall. I planted it three weeks before Christmas. I don't know why it has grown so tall. I put it in ordinary compost and it just kept growing. I've had to attach two sticks to support it because I don't want it to break off."

Sue Robinson, a houseplant buyer at the Hillier Garden Centre, Romsey, said: "The average height of an Amaryllis plant is between 1 and 1.5ft so this one is certainly larger than life. What normally happens is they look for light and grow taller in search of it.

"This has been grown in a conservatory I should congratulate her on growing such a great plant. She has a good, strong, healthy Amaryllis that's bigger than average. It sounds lovely."

Do you know of a bigger one?