Thanks! You’ve given me a good place to start researching I’ve seen asters around, blooming late summer/early fall. I’ll remove this plant from the places where it doesn’t work for me and keep an eye on the rest to see what the flowers look like. It’s nice that, unlike 90% of the plants ids I’ve submitted, this plant isn’t something I have to add to my evergrowing “get rid of that now” list.

that nice black soil looks like a new layer of compost ... if so.. perhaps it wasnt finished properly.. to kill all the weed seeds in it.. and that is why you have all the weeds .. is not.. then i am jealous of your soil .. lol... ken ps: i dont understand why you seeded chili and tomato into the lawn?????

Maybe Sabatia ? There are about 11 species native to NC. I'm not familiar with this genus, and there are no good internet photos. It might be easier to ID once it flowers. Quite possibly Sabatia angularis.

I thought it might be but it hasn’t flowered or changed beyond what’s in these photos.