Hey Guys I'm pretty new to the Gardenweb Forums so give me a break if need be!

Tree of heaven!

I don't know if it's because of my family being from Brooklyn NYC or the what, but nobody ( and I mean nobody

) in my family knows how to grow anything, nor knows about anything vegetative.

When I was growing up through my teen and preteen years, whenever I would go through strolls in the woods, Construction areas or some parks I would always notice these weeds. I didn't know what they were, but for some reason they fascinated me. I still picture this purple stemmed weed about a couple feet tall, It seems the next week it was taller than my 6 foot fence, Then the next the greaking Stem turned into a trunk with Bark! I was like What the hell? is this a tree or a weed? Then i started to notice them along all the highways and in overgrown yards/fields. Some had green berries, some had red berries! sometimes it flowered! I don;t know much about trees and plants so forgive me if I seem uneducated on the matter. It just amazed me that these things grew so big. Nobody I knew ever knew what they were. I just got "weeds man" or "Just trees" It almost seemed like nobody cared.

Now 10-15 years later I was Scrolling accross this page ( http://www.invasive.org/weeds.cfm ) somehow. I don;t know how I got there or why, but i spent hours!!!! THen after a couple hours It hit me let me find out what this sucker is! SO I searced and finally matched pictures with my memories. WHo would have known it was sooo infamous! Also Giant hogweed seems interesting to me too. No I don't want to grow these plants and ruin everyones gardens within 2000 miles. But i'd like to read about them, their origins and what in G-ds green earth helps them grow so fast? ( does anything grow faster than bamboo? ) If someone can point me to a book or webpage about weeds in the Northeast. ( im in central New Jersey ) what zone am I in? lol/ Thanks guys, Hope you liked my little story!