Tomato Plant Spotted Sprouting From Dupont Sidewalk

In the words of Jurassic Park’s Dr. Ian Malcolm, “life, uh, finds a way.”

In this case, a tomato plant found a way to grow from a crack in a sidewalk near the intersection of Connecticut Ave. and S St. NW in Dupont Circle. A local Reddit user first spotted the “respectably sized tomato plant” yesterday.

A visit to the spot today revealed a tomato plant nearly as tall as the trash can next to it. Several small yellow flowers and a handful of unripened green fruit could be seen hanging from the plant’s stem.

Russ Tisinger, who works in an office nearby, stopped to take a photo of the “amazing” plant earlier this morning.

“It’s definitely a healthy tomato plant,” Tisinger remarked. “It’s got lots of blossoms. It’s already got fruit on it, it looks like four tomatoes.”

And Tisinger would know: he’s been unsuccessfully trying to grow tomatoes on the balcony of his office for a while.

“I can’t even get them to produce while this hardy tomato plant, on its own, without anyone’s help, is just growing in the sidewalk,” he said. “It’s incredible.”