plant id - purple flowers, tall stalk, grass like, beige spore

Question

What is this plant? It has purple flowers and very pretty. I don't think it is weed, just because of the spots in the backyard where I find this plant.

• purple flowers, about 2" in diameter
• About 3 ft tall
• grass-like, has tall stacks
• beige spores that appeared within the last week, as big as a baseball or perhaps bigger

Answer 1

Classed as a wildflower, its Salsify, or Tragopogon porrifolius, a biennial plant with edible roots http://www.jeremybartlett.co.uk/2012/05/29/salsify-tragopogon-porrifolius/