These were marked as "Aster Dumosus" aka Bushy Aster but the leaves don't look anything like aster. I finally found a picture purporting to be Aster dumosus where I could see the leaves and the leaves looked like typically lanceolate aster leaves. Google photo ID thinks these are lettuce, LOL! At this point I'm pretty sure I didn't get any kind of aster, and have no idea what I DID get so I don't know where to put it.





These are "just weeds" but given so little else grows in my yard (that I haven't recently planted) I'd like to know what they are. I might just encourage them - I have been encouraging the silver leaf nightshade in my back yard.

Well I answered one of my own questions - the little purple flower is actually a tender perennial ornamental called Nierembergia. So not a weed. I guess I'll try to transplant it and look for more around my yard. Apparently it will grow from cuttings as well so I should probably try that first before I try to move it.

The other weed seems to be some form of creeping wood sorrel. Its all over the yard but doesn't seem to bloom for long. Doesn't seem harmful so I'll leave it where I find it when I can.

Still no clue what the thing I actually paid for is. Hoping for some clue there, LOL!

Agree, the 3rd one is an Oxalis. A tap-rooted one, not a bulb. The little seed pods explode when brushed against, throwing seeds up to 10 feet away. Although they are adorable little plants, they put themselves everywhere. Inability to have just a little is why most gardeners don't want that around close to cultivated areas. Not evergreen and can get over a foot tall in the right conditions, so it's not very useful as a ground cover.

Probably this, but there may be a couple others that are very similar:
Yellow Wood Sorrel (Oxalis dillenii)

Yeah the wood sorrel is pretty common in the yard, it was all over last year as well. It never seems to get any taller than about 2" or 3", maybe because it never gets watered (unless it rains which it doesn't much). It pulls up easily and doesn't easily grow through wood chip mulch so I'm not worried about it becoming invasive.

If I were going to be here for another year I'd plant creeping thyme, portulaca, and creeping phlox for ground cover - although I have not found seed for creeping phlox and in 2 years I've found exactly one plant marked as creeping phlox.

@Pyewacket I STRONGLY urge you not to encourage Silver leaf nightshade and instead dig it out at every opportunity. Even though it is native to Texas and New Mexico, it is extremely invasive and impossible to kill in pastures except with horrible poisons. 46 states classify it as a noxious weed.
http://southwestdesertflora.co....

Sorry, I'm keeping it. It is quite easy to kill off. All you have to do is mow it. I did look it up, and yes, it can be invasive in pasture situations, but I'm nowhere near any pasture.

If its any comfort to you whoever buys this house (in the next year or less) will undoubtedly just sod over the entire yard and then mow regularly. That will very effectively kill it off.

Maybe mowing works in Texas. Here the roots go four feet down and it's damn near indestructible. I'm nowhere near a pasture either, but it's taken over roadsides, in alleys, cracks in sidewalks and in unmaintained yards. Only those of us who maintain our gardens aren't inundated.

Moved to plant ID forum

How about we stop with the off topic responses.

I didn't see anything off topic, you asked about the id of a plant, clearly you knew nothing about what it is or it's performance and others here were kind enough to inform you about it's habits and so forth. If you find the information unuseful to you, just disregard it. If you want to continue commenting about the plant, that is fine too, but it seems to me nothing here was off topic.

Frillylily said: I didn't see anything off topic, you asked about the id of a plant, clearly you knew nothing about what it is or it's performance and others here were kind enough to inform you about it's habits and so forth. If you find the information unuseful to you, just disregard it. If you want to continue commenting about the plant, that is fine too, but it seems to me nothing here was off topic.

I did not ask a single thing about Silver leaf nightshade. I asked about the three plants I posted pictures of. So yup, all that stuff about silver leaf nightshade is off topic.

Not only that, I am well aware of what silver leaf nightshade is and what its characteristics are. So no, not ignorant, and didn't need any additional information about the plant I didn't ask about.

You initiated the commenting about Silver Leaf Nightshade, you brought it up yourself in your post, saying you were encouraging it. So having others comment to you about a plant you mentioned, is not off topic.

We are all ignorant of what plants do in locations other than where we have tended them.

Looks like China Aster Callistephus chinensis. It's an annual bedding plant.

NMoasis said: I urge you not to encourage Silver leaf nightshade
http://southwestdesertflora.co...

Pretty!
Has thorns... looks similar to our horse nettle, which I pull bare handed... but carefully.

All parts of horse nettle are toxic... although... this site claims that it has some wildlife benefits:
https://www.illinoiswildflower...

Looks like Silver leaf nightshade has uses for people...
Hmmm... Anyone have any curdled goat milk?

Might want to use Google Lens or the iNaturalist app to ID the plants.

@ECHOooooo you seem to have a fixation with Google Lens.

Re the wood sorrel-at least deadhead the flowers! It's spreads like mad in a lawn and the roots are threadlike and hard to get out! Beverly from Denver

ECHOooooo said: Might want to use Google Lens or the iNaturalist app to ID the plants.

See first post, Google thinks they are lettuce.

I think the first one is Flaming Katy (Kalanchoe Blossfeldiana)