I live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, and have had at least a dozen of these spring forth from the cracks in both my cement backyard, and the sidewalk outside of my backyard fence. I assume it’s some type of tree, but I’m not sure of that. I don’t see anything similar growing nearby, so I’m not sure where the seeds would’ve come from.

by douglas_in_philly

11 Comments

  1. ohshannoneileen

    Ailanthus altissima, tree of heaven. Noxious invasive, & pulling them seems to just piss them off!

  2. being-andrea

    Ive never heard of a cement backyard. That makes me sad.

  3. Feisty_Crops

    In the words of Dr. Ian Malcom: uhhh life uhh finds a way

  4. fusiformgyrus

    Tree of heaven. Look online for management strategies in extension school videos because you won’t contain it by pulling. Highly invasive.

  5. I live on the Bucks/Montgomery County line and have several of these in our yard … I hate them! (Tree of Heaven)

  6. OkBlueberry5173

    Tree of Heaven. Stupid name of you ask me. It’s tearing up my yard. Ruined my dahlias this year. You have to grind it down and use things like salt or other chemicals to kill it

  7. StatisticianFew1302

    Just spray them with some diesel mixed with used motor oil. It might stain for a little while but it works great when I use that combo

  8. Evergreen27108

    I’m far from an expert but having tangled with ToH in my yard the last two years I feel pretty confident that this is not Tree of Heaven.

  9. LuxTheSarcastic

    Glyphosate or triclopyr. Vinegar, etc won’t cut it for these demons.
    Edit: the very first one looks like a ToH the others aren’t.

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