THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 18, 1994 TAG: 9408180531
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Maybe a bird dropped it there.
Or perhaps some mysterious stranger tracked it in on his or her shoes.
Heck, the seed that sprouted into a strange growth in the flower garden behind C.B. White Jr.'s house in May could have come from outer space, for all he knew.
But one thing was for sure: He wasn't going to pull it up until he found out what it was.
``It was so skinny and tall and fuzzy,'' said White, a 54-year-old mechanic at a Lipton tea plant. ``I couldn't pull it up.''
White knows his plants - he fancies himself a backyard horticulturist of sorts. But the spindly, hollow, bright growth of greenery with leaves the size of pillowcases was a bit out of his league.
And none of the neighbors, gardeners or books he consulted were any help either.
So even when the mysterious backyard plant hit 4 feet - tall enough to see from the kitchen window - he decided to let it keep growing.
The plant quickly rose to 5 feet, 6 feet, then 8 and 9. Almost a foot every few weeks it grew, with no signs of stopping.
``The leaves grew to the size of the top of a bushel basket,'' he said. ``No way I was pulling it up then. Not until I found out what it was.''
At 9 feet, the plant took over White's flower garden and started shading his dogwood tree. He needed professional help. An extension agent came out to take a look.
``Pretty weird,'' was the consensus.
The agent took sample leaves, and the scientist types started passing them around.
The exotic mutation, meanwhile, continued to climb.
It got taller and thicker and fuzzier. The leaves grew wider. Green bark started to form.
Ten, 11, then 12 feet high, it grew. So tall you couldn't see the top. Taller than White's red-brick ranch house.
``My wife said, `That bush's got to go,' but I wanted to see how tall it was gonna get,'' White said. ``It kept on growing. I didn't have an idea what it was, but I'm a curious person.
``I wasn't going to pull it up then.''
About two weeks ago, one of the umbrella-sized leaves finally made it to Toni Sanderson of the state Department of Forestry. The next day, White had his answer.
It was an Asian ``Paulownia'' or ``Chinese Empress'' tree. In laymen's terms: a skinny, fuzzy weed.
It's from the figwort family and is found throughout Hampton Roads.
``They're all over town, once you start looking,'' White said.
So, the mystery wasn't all that . . . well . . . mysterious. But who cares?
He's grown fond of his freakish foliage and wants to keep it, if his wife doesn't mind. And besides, the thing has earned him at least a modest distinction:
``You don't see them in flower gardens like that,'' said Sanderson, the state forester for Suffolk.
``Generally, people don't let something like that grow in their flower garden,'' she said. ``It is kind of odd looking. Most people pull it up.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER/
C.B. White Jr. of Suffolk has spent the summer watching his mystery
plant grow and grow, finally topping 12 feet. He called the state
forestry department to identify the runaway specimen of flora.
by CNB