Below are some photos of a "mystery plant" that sprang up unbidden in my neglected, overgrown tomato garden. At first I thought it was a volunteer cucumber because of the shape of the leaves and the location near the cucumber trellis, but it's clearly a tall, thick-stalked plant, not a vine. It appears to be getting ready to bloom, and something has been eating the leaves (looks like slug or insect damage). Let me know if it looks familiar to you. I've worked at a flower mart for 3 seasons and have been gardening for years, but this doesn't look like anything else I have in my garden, and I'm racking my brain trying to figure out what it is! Have I perhaps been offering succor to a lowly weed?
Sincerely,
Auntie
recommend
Facebook
Twitter
bookmark 
print
Comments: 26
Save it, Auntie! I love hollyhocks.
I LURVE hollyhocks. I hope it's a single flower, old-fashioned kind.
You will be tempted but DO NOT CLIMB IT!!
You have Burdock.
The bloom will become burrs, or some places called cockleburrs. I pull these things from around my dogs kennel every year, and they grow in my lilacs also. Carried by the wind.
Time will tell, though! I promise to take a photo when it blooms.
If the leaves get any bigger, your plant could be a Gunnera but they resemble the hollyhock leaves more than the Gunneras.
I'd put my money on Hollyhock (on steroids)