The first one reminds me of a primrose? The second really looks like Holly to me! Now mind you,I am more than likely wrong,but maybe you sowed some of these and I may actually be right?

The first one is evening primrose. I have several that grow to about six feet tall.

I would tend to agree with the others in saying that the first one does appear to be a primrose variety. Not sure on that second one. Too young to be certain. Perhaps you could submit a pic after it gets a bit bigger. Weed or not at least you would find out. Up here in the North Woods we have plenty of weeds that grow up to be quite the beauties. So you never know!

Thanks for the responses. I will keep watching the second plant; I agree, too early to tell. :]

I'm still bothered by a couple of traits on the yellow - the fact that it's blooming in its first year, it has *no* fragrance, and it does not open at night, it opens after noon and the flowers close overnight. These are very un-biennis-like traits if I'm reading the descriptions right.

Does anybody perchance have any experience with Oenothera lamarckiana? I have found several different descriptions on it (I wonder sometimes if some of them are talking about biennis as they describe a biennial plant) but the description and photo here seems to fit - annual, bright yellow blooms with four petals, up to 4 feet high (mine is a little over 3 feet), and blooms open midday and close by morning... also does not mention fragrance as O. biennis is supposed to have; this also was the most amount of plant I could find in pictures.

What say you?

All in all, this is a tough mystery to crack. This plant is definitely not the Centaurea dealbata it was supposed to be. It's amazing what comes up in cheap Wal-Mart dirt. ;]

I think the last one *is* a Leibnitzia after all, just not positive it's anandria.

A couple of weeks ago, a "blossom" shot up straight as an arrow several inches above the still very low plants, then another "blossom." So I waited to see what would open up. I was surprised to see (eventually) a bit of a fluff ball there... like a tight dandelion seed head... that was a definite characteristic of the Leibnitzia, but the leaves do not seem the same to me. Today the fluff head (only one remains, the other didn't make it somehow) is in full puff and there are fat seeds there. I had time to investigate more, and I wonder if this is Leibnitzia lyrata, "Seeman's sunbonnets." Hard to find info on this, but finally found something here:

http://seinet.asu.edu/images/vasc_herbarium_images/Asteraceae/herbarium_sheets/Aster_Leibnitzia_seemannii201253.jpg

Kind of a dead-looking specimen there, mine has very dark green leaves, but I think it's the same thing. Have not found a picture of the bloom yet, but I apparently missed it. Some of the pictures on google images of L. anandia have leaves similar to mine but not exactly, but I'm learning leaves don't mean everything. It would have been nice if I'd seen the bloom but I didn't. Oh well, hopefully this will come up again next year (it's listed as perennial in Arizona; we'll see if it's perennial *here*) and maybe I'll catch it then.

The seeds (15 of them) will be sent along with one of the big group swaps I participate in this year, in case anybody is interested in something a little out of the ordinary. :]

Terri

I have what looks like your first plant but ours opens right before it gets dark out, no kidding it does bloom before your eyes and I have no idea what the name of it is. We got it from our neighbor and he calls it a moon plant. Quite a converstion piece!

Hi, I bought a Helenium on an orphan's table at a local "freerange" nursery and brought home a stowaway that looks exactly like your first pic. I knew it was an Oenothera of some kind and I labored over studying all the id and plant file pictures I could find. Mine was also open all day, was about 38 inches tall and had no fragrance. I decided it had to be Oenothera lamarckiana based on a comparison of all the traits with Oenothera biennis. But they certainly look very much alike.

So that would be my humble opinion of your plant id. BTW I collected just a few dried pods and got LOTS and LOTS of seeds. According to the info I found it is a prolific self-seeding annual in zones 3-9.
Sue