This thing popped up in our garden, and we don't know what it is. Does anyone here know?
We live in Hill Country, Austin.
Pam
Plant or Weed?
Here is a close up of the leaves.
By the way--it grew really fast. We noticed it in May when it was less than a foot tall, and it's over 5 feet tall now.
Pam
Could it be Texas Star Hibicus?
If it is a Hibiscus, that would be very cool.....I like them.
Pam
It looks a little like giant rag weed to me.
Yes, unfortuneatly it is a giant weed. I nabbed one from the bayou and grew it into a lovely giant weed. !
Rj
I agree. This rag weed can get over 10' tall. It forms forests. All this rain has encouraged rank growth.
Ooh......ragweed does not sound good.
Pam
Looked it up....yep--it's giant ragweed. Guess it's gotta go.
Thank you all for the help.
Pam
Giant ragweed has taken off so much this year it's almost like groves of trees you see along many roads. I feel for the people allergic to them. Going to be a bad season when they bloom. I'm allergic to the western ragweed, that's bad enough!
Oh my, that is not good news! I saw a small one and thought it looked like a passion vine then saw more and realized they were growing on a stalk. Ever since then I've seen them everywhere!! Allergy season ought to be fun this year. :(
There a re lot of them out there, but I have discovered that they are a larval host for the Bordered Patch butterfly, so you could leave one for a while and remove it before it blooms, it is actually a pretty plant.
Josephine.
Well Josephine, you know that now I can't hate the ragweed! I have noticed them growing amongst the sunflowers too. I've had my Bordered Patches on the sunflower and the Zexmania this year. :)
Since there are many more host plants for that butterfly, I think I'd just as soon do without the ragweed entirely...both kinds of it! I had an allergic reaction yesterday and I think that Western Ragweed is a possible cause...I pulled up a plant that afternoon. It was a less serious reaction than the other ones I've had in the past...probably because I'm on allergy medications. But it scared me silly! If you've ever had even a fairly mild anaphylactic reaction you might know what I mean. And I've never seen those cats on the ragweed in all these years anyway...only on the Zexmenia so far. I've been trying to get the ragweed under control around here, but it's really hard! Guess I'll wear gloves from now on when I touch them.
Something funny to tell. A friend of mine lives with her Mother and cares for her yard. Well her Mom got "yard of the month" and when I came over to take some pictures in her yard I saw this over 5 foot plant and it looked familiar, but she or I didn't know what it was. Later on the way home I saw the same plant growing wild in a ditch. I let her know it was ragweed, but she didn't tell her Mother. None of the garden club ever realized it was ragweed or didn't let on! LOL!
LOL! That IS funny! I don't know that I even know what small version of ragweed looks like but that is certainly not what I thought these large plants were. I pointed large patches of them out to my husband today.
Does anyone know if the entire plant cause allergy problems or just when it blooms?
I think it is only during the blooming season. Might look it up, not that sure.
For most people it would only be the pollen from the flowers, but it seems that Linda is allergic to the leaves also.