When it comes to unusual shaped vegetation then Diana Bullard may just win top prize - she has a giant tree at the side of her house that looks like an ostrich.

Cambs Times: Diana's tree of main road, Elm, has grown to look like a giant ostrich, Picture: Steve Williams.Diana's tree of main road, Elm, has grown to look like a giant ostrich, Picture: Steve Williams. (Image: Archant)

The towering wonder, which was planted more than 30 years ago, has been commented on so many times that she decided to get in touch.

Mrs Bullard, of Elm, said: “It is taller than my house. It hasn’t been cut like that, as the years have gone by it has got bigger and is now in this funny shape.

“I planted it in the 1980s but in the last year it has started to look like an ostrich. I’ve had so many people comment on it now.”

Mrs Bullard, of Main Road, saw the species in the Botanical Gardens in Cambridge and liked it so much that she went out and bought herself a sapling of the tree – which is a sequoiadendron gigantium pendulum.

According to Gardener’s World Magazine the tree is “a sensational version of the giant redwood, except it has more wayward, unpredictable growth, producing twisted, contorted branches on top and side branches that point down.

“Make sure it has plenty of space because this is one of the tallest columnar trees around, with wonderful, thick, reddish-brown spongy bark. You’ll also need plenty of space to stand right back and admire it.”