The odd flower once grew in my yard each year. A construction company bought the field and some of my yard years ago and even after the land was plowed and a subdivision built the plant returned in the very same spot. Bees and beetles can be seen on the plant once in a while. The plant is about 2 feet tall with large dead leaves on the ground with healthy leaves on rest. If plant and yellow flowers on top peak. The is the only one I’ve seen more at least a mile in each direction.
Hi James,
your plant is the great mullein, Verbascum thapsus. It was introduced long ago from Europe, so it is not native. It generally grows as a biennial – forming a large rosette of fuzzy leaves the first year and flowering the next.
–Steve Hill [Ph.D.] SCNPS