"stuart noble" wrote in message
...

Margaret Paige wrote in message ...
Mine are also the tallest I've seen. If I measure it I'll get back to you
Please do! Not easy hanging off the top of a step ladder though :-)
I'm beginning to wonder about the expert advice usually given, which is to
grow these things in rich soil. The best specimens round here are always
coming out of cracks in paths etc.
I noticed some good specimens in Greece this year which were growing out
concrete on the edge of a mountain road with no obvious source of
nutrients
or moisture.

In my experience they grow very well in poor soil, I look after a 100 foot
row of them growing on the edge of a gravel path against a wall. They get no
feeding, watering or anything, I just tie them back against the wall in
summer and remove the flower stalks when they are finished. Most of them
are between 7 and 9 feet high.

Earnest Trawler