The strangest flower in my garden. I love them. They pop up everywhere and are so unusual.

I'm no expert so wait for some other responses but... that first one looks a lot like yarrow to me. Are the leaves really as blue as they appear in the photo?

The second one looks like some sort of perennial verbena to me. Could be very wrong on that one though...

The first is yarrow as David suggested and the second is Verbena bonariensis which for me is a reseeding annual since it isn't hardy enough to be perennial here.

I agree with Nhbabs. The Verbena boniarensis will occasionally overwinter for me, but reseeds with abandon. A friend who lives close by me has the Verbena planted against her house and beside her cement drive and it returns reliably in that warm, protected spot. It is a great favorite of many nectaring insects and hummingbirds.

Martha

I thought it looked like a verbena. I absolutely LOVE perennial verbenas... probably because in my zone (5ish) they're not necessarily reliably hardy here as Martha mentioned.

Thanks, guys. I really thought I had that one right with the sedum. Must have it confused. I love the Verbena. It's so unlike everything else. Especially the way it is made up of so many small blooms and then looks like three bigger blooms from far away. All of mine seem to grow in this "W" shape as above.

Also, in 5 b here it appears to self seed and survive the winters somehow. Mine are not in particularly sheltered spots.

Yarrow foliage has a pretty distinctive smell if you rub it lightly and those ferny leaves. Sedum leaves are always thick and fleshy. Both are tolerant of dry areas, but they just have developed different ways of accommodating, the yarrow with fine hairs to reduce transpiration and the waxy coated, water storing leaves of Sedum.