For years, I collected CA poppy seeds and tossed them out in the spring. For years, I'd see a bloom or two in the fall. Last fall, I left them to self sow and this is the first year that I've had a bunch to flowers. Two other changes this year - we had a cooler then normal summer and the plants received much more water. Not at all scientific but I'll let some of them self sow again. I read somewhere that they need cool weather to germinate... I successfully WSed red oriental poppies, as well as pink and black peony poppies. I left a few seed heads on the red oriental poppies for self sowing but also collected some for WSing. Peony poppy seeds are too hard to find to leave up to Ma Nature - IMO - so those will be WSed.

Considering how prolific seeders all the morning glory family is, if you're talking about Ipomoea Alba type of moonflower, I promise you'll have them back next year if you let them volunteer seed themselves. They will/should die back complete from the first frost though, so they're in that "kinda perennial" grouping.

Dig up a plant next month and chop of some fat bits of root. Replant - supposedly facing upwards so you need to be careful that the top and bottom of the root piece are planted in the correct polarity...but I simply pop a chunk on its side - about 2inches and as fat as a crayon. Anyone who has tried to move or eradicate oriental poppies can surely attest to that irritating habit of returning from any bit of leftover root (which always happens)...so this is not a delicate fraught operation...and is also much faster than seed - at least a year is saved (I have even had flowers from the same season's cuttings)...and you know you are getting a plant identical to the parent. In fairness, I have not done this for around 6 years as they now appear all over the allotment.

Youngia japonica seems like the most likely candidate at this point. I read everything I could find online last night about Youngia, as well as Hypochoeris radicata, Arctotheca calendula, Capsella bursa-pastoris, all of which have been suggested as possibilities. The plants I have do not have milky sap when torn, which was why I eliminated Hypochoeris, since several articles stated that Hypochoeris has a milky sap like Taraxacum's. Carol - Do the Youngia plants you have exhibit milky sap when torn? One article online stated that Youngia has milky sap, but it was the only source that referred to Youngia sap at all, so I'm wondering if that is correct. (There was an article online using the name Youngia japonica interchangeably with Crepis japonica ; from what I can tell so far, it is because they use similar common names [oriental false hawksbeard], though the article [which is from a wild-edibles blog] claims that the name for Crepis was changed to Youngia. Can anybody confirm that? That article, along with others, tout Crepis as an edible wild green). Thanks everybody for your suggestions! When I get flowers, I'll post some pics. This has been so fun & interesting that now I think I won't be a stranger to posting online in the future!