Help with plant ID

Darlene T
by Darlene T
I have a few plants I need help identifying. The one with purple flowers I got from a friend. The green one (looks like some kind of succulent) is growing in my garden between my sweet potatoes and marigolds, I did not plant them Also, does anyone know why the bottom leaves on my tomato plants are turning yellow. We thought it might be from ok "Alkaline" well water, but we don't water with the hose anymore, we use rain water
  12 answers
  • Barb Rosen Barb Rosen on Jun 20, 2013
    Darlene, the purple flowered plant looks like the perennial plant, spiderwort (http://home.howstuffworks.com/spiderwort.htm), which can be very aggressive in your flowerbed, the middle picture looks like purslane, an edible weed used now in some edible landscapes (http://landscaping.about.com/cs/weedsdiseases/a/purslane.htm) and yellowed leaves on tomatoes is generally a result of too much or too little water (http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/tomato/yellow-tomato-leaves.htm). Hope these links help!
  • Darlene T Darlene T on Jun 20, 2013
    Thanks Barb, I also thought that the green one looked like purslane, but I have NO idea how it got there, haven't really seen any, anywhere else in my yard. But we do live near lots of wooded area and open fields (West Virginia) Thank you so much. The purple one being aggressive, that's fine with me as we mostly have weeds for a lawn, same problem, WV has so many rocks, it is hard to get a good lawn going. And as I am sure you know, top soil is so expensive. I think the people that lived here before had fill dirt dumped, I keep finding all kinds of weird things in my yard (NON-PLANT related).As for the tomatoes, it has been raining a lot, could that be the cause???
  • Barb Rosen Barb Rosen on Jun 20, 2013
    We've had lots of rain too, Darlene! That could be the cause of your yellowed leaves. Check out that link I sent, it gave other reasons as well that tomatoes' leaves yellow. Happy Gardening!
  • Laurie Laurie on Jun 20, 2013
    I'd snip off those yellow leaves on your tomatoes. You might have a little early blight. Mulching around your plants can help by keeping organisms in the soil from splashing up on the leaves when watering or raining.
  • Darlene T Darlene T on Jun 20, 2013
    Thanks Laurie, there does seem to be a white substance on top of the dirt around some of the plants. I usually just take a hoe rake and "till" the dirt once a week or so... I think the white stuff may be some kind of fungus... just seems to appear overnight and usually after it has rained a lot. But I will try the mulching!
  • Rebecca Platt Rebecca Platt on Jun 20, 2013
    Agree 100% with first response as to identity of first two plants.
  • Patty S Patty S on Jun 22, 2013
    White on top of soil is usually salt coming up from too much water.
  • Judy Judy on Jun 22, 2013
    I have the 1st plant in my yard. A friend gave it to me & she called it Widow's Tears but it's aka Spiderwort. The middle one looks like Purslane to me too & as for the yellow leaves on the tomato almost anything that stresses a tomato plant will make the bottom leaves yellow. Don't worry about it as long as the rest of the plant looks healthy, just trim them off.
  • Tammy Tammy on Jun 22, 2013
    I agree with the plant identification, as to the yellowing of the tomatoes, there are many reasons. Sorry, cant be more help,
  • Linda E Linda E on Jun 24, 2013
    Looks like a moon flower
  • Judy Judy on Jun 25, 2013
    Linda E You need new glasses.
  • Mary cornelius Mary cornelius on Jun 30, 2013
    The first on is called spider wart. I have 3 colors, the will spread but not a lot. Proper name is Tradescantia