Kenneth and Ester Lohr stand by their 7-foot-tall tomato plant at their home in Evans City. The plant started growing in June in their flower bed of impatiens.

EVANS CITY — On the porch of the Lohr house on Wahl Road is an accidental garden anomaly.

Rooted in a flower bed of impatiens is a tomato plant that has grown as high as the house’s front porch, over 7 feet tall.

“I grow tomato plants out back and none of them have grown as big as that,” said Ester Lohr.

Lohr said the tomato plant is a volunteer, growing on its own and by accident.

She said the plant might have grown from seeds that may have been dropped into the flower bed, which was cultivated in June. The Lohrs sometimes eat on the front porch picnic table, just inches away from the impatiens.

“It just came up on its own,” she said. “It outgrew the flowers.”

When the tomato plant grew about half its current size, Lohr tied rope around it. However, it kept growing taller.

“I’m just wondering why it got so big,” said her husband Kenneth Lohr.

Close to 20 green tomatoes hang from the stalk. But Ester Lohr said the tomatoes may not have enough time to ripen and turn red.

She said her daughter plans on using the tomatoes to make fried green tomatoes.

She wonders if another one will spring up in the flower bed.

“I always have volunteers in my garden out back, so I wouldn’t be surprised if another one came up,” she said.