Looks like Morus rubra, RED MULBERRY.

I don't think it will bloom for you this year, nor set fruit. I think it blooms and sets fruit on wood that is at least one-year old. And since you've been cutting it back every year, it doesn't have any old growth.

I'm curious. Why would you cut it back each year for ten years and not just dig it out completely?

Joe

lol.. because im a nim-wit Joe.

Actually, I didnt want to disturb the Iris, so I would just clip it. I received the Iris in a trade off the GW trade forum in 2002 so...whoops, correction, Ive been cutting it for 6 or 7 years, not 10.

Mulberry huh... hmmmm, I loved to snack on them when I was a kid, but man what a mess.

Any other thoughts, keep them coming

Looks more like white mulberry to me. The leaves of red mulberry are usually pubescent below and have fewer lobes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Red Mulberry

The leaves are diff from the two mulberry... perhaps beacuase they are immature? hmmm, still not sure... something tells me its some kind of vine though....? I will wait and see what happens... Its coming out by Sept when I refresh the Iris and I will continue to watch it.

Further speculation is encouraged...

Okay. Found a mulberry tree two doors down! The mature leaves look different, but the younger leaves look just like these...

thanks for input... it is Mulberry. Im clipping it down and in the fall its outta there. If I had a larger property, Id keep it for the god given fruit, but....

White mulberry sprouts with leaf shapes all over the map are asked about repeatedly on the internet.

And the fruits aren't usually white, either. I live in NJ too and I've only seen a true Red Mulberry a few times, but the White Mulberries are everywhere. Very weedy. Fruit can be purple or white. I don't think they have much flavor, although we used to eat them when I was a kid.

WW

Yes, looks a bit like a mulberry, a mulbery with a 'scale' infestation along the stem (as is the habbit of scales!)

funnelweb you really need to work on your horticulture/botany.
Those "scales"are lenticels.

Here is a link that might be useful: lenticels

bboy... I appreciate you pointing that out... Im not formerly educated in bot... but I felt silly not recognizing a common tree in my area! The leaves are very diff from a the mature tree I found. :o)

I learned a lot from everyone, your comments point me in all directions and I discover so much, thanks

Saltcedar. I don't think I need a lecture on horticulure or botany from the likes of an areshole such as yourself! Perhaps, though, you might consider some further instruction on the various 'scales', at least as they appear on photographic reproduction.

Steady on Funnel - I'm not sure our cousins would appreciate that Strine earthiness. If you open up the photo and click the little magnifying glass you will see that either those are lenticels or they are a variety of teeny weeny scale which likes to live in colonies of unparalleled neatness. It's usually best not to be too emphatic on these forums. Lots of posters start off certain of themselves but discover there are more things in heaven and earth ..... bboy and saltcedar both have distinctive voices on these forums and we are used to them. Most often they are right. Sometimes they're wrong and then they acknowledge it. They don't insult the people who taught them something new.

I had to look up 'Strine', thanks flora.