CLEVELAND, Ohio -- When is a weed not a weed? As more gardeners are incorporating native plants in Northeast Ohio, some plants still have a polarizing reputation.

Take common milkweed, Joe Pye weed, and ironweed, for example. They can grow taller than a basketball player, spread aggressively, and have “weed” right in the name.

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Reader Martha from Macedonia recently wrote about a “volunteer” in her yard. (Volunteer is garden-speak for a plant that you are pretty sure you didn’t plant.)

A Joe Pye weed appeared in one of her flower beds and before long it had spread into another. “The original plant is enormous!” she said, at more than six feet tall, with “big pink flowers” that return every year. Although her husband was not as fond of it, she

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