Hi, can anyone help me identify the two plants that have sprung up in my garden. The first is a purple flowering plant and the second is a red and yellow flowering plant. Any help is appreciated. I don't know if I should let them grow or drop them to the ground. Thank you.

#2 looks like a Milkweed. Possibly Blood Flower/Tropical Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica).

Thank you Mitch. I will check it out.

#1 flower looks a lot like Wild Petunia. Not really sure of the ID though because the plant leaves are not hairy as Hairy Wild Petunia. Maybe a related species?

Mitch, thanks again. You got me on the right track. It appears to be Ruellia nudiflora, Violet Wild Petunia.

Do you happen to know a place I can get a good list of nitrogen fixers? I currently only have gaia's garden. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

Chris Crouch wrote:Do you happen to know a place I can get a good list of nitrogen fixers? I currently only have gaia's garden. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

Gaia's Garden has a fairly extensive list if I remember correctly. Is it just an issue of not finding a plant on the list that fills the niche you're looking to fill?

In this case I'd say google is your friend.

It's a good idea to start a new thread for a new question because then people with good answers will see it more readily. i also suggest using the permies search function or google something like "nitrogen fixers permies" to find similar questions that have already been answered.

Here is a link to a thread with some good lists on it

Thank you all for your help.