IS IT A WEED OR A TREE? — Cleveland resident Clarence Moats doesn’t know exactly what kind of plant is growing next to his house. His wife wants him to cut it down, but before doing so he wants to know what kind of plant it is. His name isn’t “Jack” so it probably isn’t a beanstalk. Banner photo, DAVID DAVIS
One of his neighbors has elephant ears in their yard and it is not the same as the plant growing in Moats’ yard that has grown higher than the house.
Moats said the plant is a mystery. No one in the neighborhood knows what it is. He took it to a nursery and they didn’t know. Bradley County Extension Service Agent Kim Frady offered a couple of suggestions over the phone without seeing it. But, when he was told the leaves were about 25 inches wide, he said it is not a giant ragweed or velvet leaf.
Frady joked that it might be an exotic plant that a bird dropped in Moats’ yard. He was pretty sure a hummingbird did not fly the seed to Cleveland from South America.
Although Moats is having a lot of fun with the plant that has now grown higher than the eaves of his house, he really is curious what kind of plant it is and how the plant got there.
It wasn’t planted and it wasn’t imported with the pea gravel he brought in three years ago.
Moats said his wife wants him to cut the plant down, but he doesn’t want to until he finds out what it is.
