Garden Giant

This plant / shrub / tree has been in the garden for some years now. It has been cut back almost to the ground during a couple of redesigns of that bit of the patch - and still it thrives. it's managed to grow to around 18 feet tall in 3 to 4 years.
No idea what it is but it's a tough blighter.

To get the picture of the flowerhead I had to move well back and use the tele end of the zoom - and that's when I found the nettles. Shorts and sandals don't mix well with an overgrown garden.

Didn't have to crop this one but tweaked the exposure a bit in Aperture.