There are a whole bunch of these growing in my garden. I moved in here recently, so I don't know their origin. They are over 1 metre tall at this point, but I can't figure out whether they're legitimate plants or weeds. Someone suggested they might be Jerusalem artichokes, but I'm still kind of skeptical. The roots don't look very big or suggestive of tubers to me. I've attached several pictures. The stems are hairy, the leaves are rough and feel kind of like they have micro-fur as well, and the plant grows very easily. I pulled a couple out from between patio stones. I'd ordinarily assume it's a weed, but it seems odd that it's the same plant all through the two garden plot areas, and it is kind of big for a weed. But I don't know much about plants. Please help me out if you can.
They're all growing clumped together. I'm pretty sure they aren't trees. There are even some growing (or trying to grow) in the little patch of soil immediately adjacent to the tree out front--the only reason I doubted they were weeds is because they were so uniformly packed into the garden plot and they've gotten pretty big.
