If that showed up in my garden it would be Tragopogon porrifolius. The flower would be like a purple dandelion.

Thank you for the replies! Sweet_betsy, when it first showed up, I thought it might be liatris spicata… but none of my liatris was up yet. Now that it’s larger, I can tell it’s definitely different. Floral, I think you may be right, except the pictures I find show a yellow flower. I’ll wait until it flowers to be sure. :p

Did you look up the full name? T porrifolius has a purple flower. Some other Tragopogon species have yellow.

yeah, floral, an ipad search yielded a popup that misled me and I got tricked into looking at images of "salsify" and "black salsify", which turns out to be Scorzonera hispanica. :p

Tragopogon porrifolius occurs in New York.

Its grown as a vegetable, Salsify, and escapes easily with those wind borne fluffy seeds.

If I'm right it will look like this. (Today on my allotment)

This is where mine is at as of 5 minutes ago... it's grown about a foot in just the past few days and is branching out and loading up with flower buds.

Those flower buds look right when comparing it to the buds on floral’s plant.

As soon as it flowers, I'll take and post a picture for definite ID. :) floral, do you eat yours?! If it is T. porrifolius, then I have no idea where it would have come from. I've never seen anything like it growing around here.

I am reading that T. porrifolius is a biennial. If so, why would it bloom now when this is the first time the plant has appeared?! I am certain that this plant wasn't there until it showed up this spring.

It finally rained yesterday and the flower is opening this morning...... boo!!! it's not purple!

Looks like T. pratensis. I have only seen T. dubius here.

Ok. Not porrifolius. One of the other Tragopogons.

Yup, looks like it’s T. pratensis. I’m disappointed. lol.

Thank you all for your help!