The yellow is horseherb.

I think I've identified the yellow as Calyptocarpus vialis aka Horseherb or Straggler Daisy.

Haha, Thanks PKponder and Omar! :)

Wow, the three of us were writing the same answer at about the same time.

Omar

haha

Does anyone grow this? LBJ says that some native centered nurseries carry it. I do have an area that gets decent sun and needs some erosion help that is pretty out of sight from the majority of the backyard. I don't want to regret it... but turning down a free plant goes against my grain. ;)

I let horse herb grow where anything else does it, but I trim it very frequently. I have seen it for sale at some nurseries.

Omar

It grows wild around here. A few seeds blow in and come up in the lawn and flower beds, but it's easy to pull when it does. Some people use it for a lawn. It stays low naturally, but takes to mowing nicely. So I'd say to go for it.

I have a photo somewhere showing it growing behind our house. When I find it I'll post it.

Roselee, I was just looking at your photo of the easement. How pretty! I'm going for it. Now if I can figure out the lavender flower... Thanks again!

Picture of horseherb growing in easement

Okay good -- you found it!

I use it as a grass substitute because I have so much shade. The initial spring flush is already going to seed.

I wonder if the other is Sherardia arvensis ... or something else in the Rubiaceae family.

Miz_G, I think you got it. Thank you! It appears to be invasive so I'll let her trash that one.

https://www.invasiveplantatlas.org/subject.html?sub=13320

It's a pitty, that was the one I liked the most with it's sweet little flowers. On the bright side, I'm happy to learn about horse herb and to add a new native plant to the yard.

Thanks everyone for your help and endorsements. :)

Joanna, I also have that plant growing here and there in my garden but it is not invasive at all. Horse herb is way more aggressive than the plant with lavender flowers.

Omar

I have heard some people swear at horse herb.

I would be one of those.......................cannot get rid of it no matter how hard I try. It came as a gift either from the wind or a friendly bird, and has refused to leave.

Horseherb is one of those plants that seems to languish where I'd like it and thrives where I don't. Stayed too small/sparse to work well as ground-cover in the total shade spot we first tried it, but has filled in nicely in other areas with a little sunlight. Always thought of it as a "shade plant", so was surprised how quickly it dominated gaura, Russian sage, and other plants when I let it expand into a sunny bed last year. I wrongly assumed it would start dying back by the August heat, but instead got more flowers and seeds than ever. The plants were not difficult to pull, but am just a bit over halfway through a second pass at removing 100 sqft or so of dense volunteers in the bed and adjacent lawn. Have never had them put out this much viable seed in partial sun or total shade locations over the years it's been growing around our lot:

Bostedo, that picture says a 1000 (curse)words! Look at all of those seedlings. Wantonamara I bet I'd be one of them. Thanks again for everyone's input.

I may just pass on that puppy. We just got around to landscaping our backyard after some hardscaping renovations. Lots of bare patches between plants that I bet those seedlings would enjoy too much. Omar, I might see about bringing the little lavender flower over and keep a close eye on it far from the backyard garden.

Both of those grow in my yard. Horseherb is everywhere. It was here when we moved here. I tried digging it out for a while, then gave up.

I have heard some people swear at horse herb.

Other people swear by horseherb. I'm ripping out invasive bamboo that's crept in from a not very community-conscious neighbor, to be followed by a barrier (not my favorite way to spend the spring). Getting rid of all of it requires removing the top 6-8" of soil with a pick axe/mattock, mounding the removed soil to make way for the next section, then returning and leveling the soil. Mother Nature is filling in the bare soil with horseherb. Would I rather have beggar's lice, dandelion or wild carrot? Horseherb may be the closest thing this area has to a native groundcover. It's attractive (okay, eye of the beholder), excludes weeds and asks for very little in return.

Got horse herb growing in shade under my elms. Doggies love to graze on them.