Calling all gardeners! What is this plant?

My father can grow anything.  He’s one of those green-thumbed people who seems to know how to nurture any kind of plant in any kind of climate.  Need fresh tomatoes in the Arctic?  I’m pretty sure he could figure that out (something to the tune of “a little dirt, a little fertilizer, a little warmth and artificial light”) and have a makeshift salsa garden in no time.

Growing up, I remember having vegetable gardens and all kinds of flowers (including roses), bushes and trees.  I am still amazed that he instinctively knows how to ameliorate the soil to best suit the tiny seedlings, how to calmly assess whatever fungus, bug, blight, or stress a plant is suffering and how to fix it.  Plants green up and bloom when he’s around.

I don’t have that talent.  Houseplants literally fall down and die when I look at them.  It’s as perplexing to my dad as it is to me.  He’s given me plants before — live, vibrant plants — that took one look at me and turned black.  I wish I were kidding.

This summer he threw out some seeds from a mixed wildflower pack to cover some bare areas.  And this six-foot monster plant is what he got in his backyard:

Notice that the plant towers over the six-foot fence. That’s one big flower.

Anyone know the name of this huge flowering plant?  It’s growing… well, like a weed.  It sure is pretty though.

If you know what it might be or anything about it, please let me know in the comments and I’ll pass it along to my dad.  And don’t worry — I won’t look directly at it or do something to cause it to wilt immediately.  Promise.

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