The first one is in the mustard family, but I couldn't say what species. Possibly a Rorippa sp.?

The second one looks like cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum)

I agree with the ID above. The first one is probably a weed, but not one that sets off any alarms. If it was my restoration, I'd probably take a chance and let it live.

The second is cup plant, and is one of the best native plants ever for wildlife. The leaves hold water for several days after rain, and so attract beneficial insects, butterflies, pollinators, etc. Which bring in insectivorous birds. Finches love the seeds.

Thank you,

I got the same answers from a couple different sources.
Unfortunately, the mustard plant is gone. I think I found about 5 of these on my 5a.

There are many cup plants and some were surprised to see how well they are doing considering that they have only been in the ground for 15 months. (March seeding, broadcast)

I also see a fair amount of black-eyed susan, along with a butterflyweed, grayheaded coneflower, an aster (New England?), and maybe an ox-eye sunflower in your photos. You should have quite the show this summer.

Ive been anxiously awaiting my Butterfly weed and Round Headed Bushclover to make their appearance.

Ive yet to find the Butterfly weed but yet you pick one out of one of my pictures. I can only hope one day I will know as much about this as you!

I have approx 80 diferent forbs thoughout my restoration, and have been meticulaously walking it almost every evening pulling weeds.

Thistles are almost non existant now, after spending extensive time pulling them.

I'm after a undesirable grass now, that some have called witch grass, or tickle grass, but when I look these names up, neither are what I have.

Heres a picture.

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Here uis my restoration last June:

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Here are some pictures from 3 weeks ago:

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My first Compass plant!

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Its gonna be full of color in the next couple weeks!

Sorry, I moved some of my photos around into a new prairie restoration album on my site.

Ill try to redo it.

This may be easier anyway.

Here is a link that might be useful: New prairie restoration

I enjoyed the pics!

The grass looks like the stuff that grows all over the road side ditches around here. I think it's gorgeous, so I spent a lot of time a couple of years ago tracking it down and found it was Hordeum jubatum--AKA Fox-tail Barley or Squirrel-tail (my favorite name). The USDA Plants Database lists it as native to most parts of USA, but I remember reading (I don't know where) that it spread from the west and might be a hybrid with some eurasian species, or some such thing. It's considered a weed because farmers/ranchers don't like it, for the same reason as Porcupine Grass--it's dry seedheads hurt cattle's noses. It does spread vigourously in certain situations; I've never come across anything about it's desirability in restorations, but I'm sure you could learn more now that you know the name (of course, that's assuming I am correct, which I certainly am not always!!).

Yep, Thats what it is/ was. I have worked my way thru almost my entire restoration over the last week, and have everything done except the part closest to the Highway, (which is also the wettest and also has the most Squirrel Tail!

Its really a pretty cool grass/weed when you handle it. Its like when I used to grab ahold of the girls ponytail on the bus many years ago. Has that same feel to it.

I wouldnt mind a few bundles of it in the restoration, but I just had too much.

Ive tried different ways to get rid of it over the last week.

I started bundling it all up in my hand, and spraying it with Roundup against a rubber glove to control the spray.

This was time consuming, and risky that when I let it go, it would fall back into place and I would have some collateral damage to the good plants surrounding it.

I then bundled it up, cut it off fairly short with a pruner, and sprayed the leftover stems with roundup. I disposed of the seed heads. This works best, because then, they are no longer able to be seen either.

I also tried just ripping them out of the ground, but the disposal factor set in, because I couldnt carry as much with the rootball on, as when I cut it.

I hope to finish up tonight.

Thanks for that information. I appreciate it!

Heres a new Cup plant I found last night, Its about 3 feet tall now, How tall do they get?

And another new compass plant!

Any idea what this is?

Its starting to color up!