Each year my mom and sister and I have an unofficial contest to see who can get completely caught off-guard by the biggest weed or invasive shrub. I’m pretty sure I will be taking the grand prize for 2020.
Yesterday I was enjoying the unusually-warm November day when I noticed some green leaves sticking out of my otherwise bare cotoneaster shrub hedge. I went over for a closer look and discovered a tree growing right through the middle of one of the shrubs. I immediately got out a saw and chopped it down.
It was 14 feet from ground to tip with a 2-inch diameter “trunk”. How could I have missed such a beast all this time?
It looks like it might be related to the birch family, but I’m sure it’s some kind of obvious invasive to have grown that big in just a year or two (if I also missed it last year).