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dame’s rocket: asset, or invader?

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dames-rocket-2bI WAS GOING TO SIMPLY NOTE TODAY how much I like the moment (now) when dame’s rocket, or Hesperis matronalis, blooms wherever it wishes among alliums and other late-May-and-June things, adding shades of lavender to the borders in its casual, self-sown manner. And then I read up on it (damn this internet thing…so much information, not all of it good).

It seems that dame’s rocket, a short-lived perennial and prodigious sower, is taking up more than its share of the natural spaces it spreads itself into (read: becoming invasive). In my area it is common along roadsides and woodland edges, in the filtered light of those spots, and really breathtaking at its peak. My plants blew in from across the road. But some states, such as Wisconsin, are noting its invasive tendency: the fact that it “escapes cultivation” so easily and takes up space that natives then must yield. Dame’s rocket has been on our shores since the 1600s, so it is no newcomer, but it is not a native American species, hailing from Eurasia. It’s often sold in “wildflower” seed mixes, and in packs by itself.

What do you think about our responsibility as gardeners when it comes to growing plants that are non-native, and this enthusiastic? It’s a subject I have a fair degree of knowledge about, having collaborated on “The Natural Habitat Garden” with Ken Druse some years ago and pondered many times since. Including just the other day on this blog when Highvalleygirl asked about some barberries I posted. Frankly, friends, despite my semi-expertise, I do not know the answer to this one. Tough stuff, and worth talking about (no fisticuffs, though, please).

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35 comments
May 28, 2008

comments

  1. Shane Morgan says

    June 2, 2011 at 9:56 am

    I live in Southeaster PA and Dames Rocket is becoming more and more ubiquitous in our area. I do think it is lovely, and it has self sowed into my garden as well, but I agree with Andrew and Tim that sometimes we aren’t preemptive enough to thwart invasives because of their ease and beauty, or because we can see it’s invasive potential. While Dames Rocket has been here for hundreds of years, in evolutionary time that’s nothing and so I ask is this plant displacing native species which have co-evolved with our native fauna leaving them with less habitat and food, or is it just a transient opportunist filling in where others have yet to seed. If it’s the former, I say pull it.

    Reply
  2. kim says

    June 2, 2011 at 11:22 am

    Love, love, love Dame’s Rocket! Rumoured to be Marie Antoinette’s favorite flower, read somewhere. It is not wise, however to plant it next to your foundation, as its’ very strong roots have in the past penetrated my old stone foundation. But it is a beautiful filler and nothing a shovel cannot take care of!

    Reply
  3. Laura Fernandes says

    July 29, 2014 at 12:38 am

    Dames Rocket is dead easy to grow or pull out if you decide you don’t want it somewhere. Plus it has a heavenly fragrance, and looks awesome in drifts (especially the purple one) – so much so, that people were getting out of their parked cars on the side of the road to take pictures of a large drift of it near where I live. It was (stunning). Also, it blooms longer in the shade, and faster in sun, thus making it possible to co ordinate a kind of ‘timing’ effect of the blooms in different areas of the garden. Plus, I’m reading that if you ‘deadhead’ it, you’ll be rewarded with more bloom (which I’m trying next year). My only complaint is that it gets kind of ‘straggly looking’ if you’re waiting for more seed to plant elsewhere in the garden for next year, and it’s biennial, which means you have to wait two years to see bloom. Although, I’m sure there are ways to get around (that), and if you plant ripe seed in some parts of the country, you may just have mature enough plants next year to get bloom (which I’m also trying this season, in southern Ontario, where I live). I love it, and so do the hummingbirds, butterflies, etc. This website is pretty cool, too.

    Reply
    • margaret says

      July 29, 2014 at 12:46 pm

      Thanks, Laura. The drawback of course is that it crowds out many native species because it’s so prolific, so I do as you say and pull most of it here, just leaving a couple of small spots.

      Reply
      • Laura Fernandes says

        July 29, 2014 at 7:23 pm

        Yes Margaret, I’m sure that, especially in some of the southern states, it really could get out of control. It stays pretty tame here in southern Ontario, especially in wooded, shadier areas. Although I can understand the concern about the crowding out of native species. Mostly, where I’ve seen larger drifts of it, were in sunny fields and ditches, where it gets lots of exposure. The one I (really) regret bringing home to my garden is the wild creeping bell flower, seen along roadsides, in southern Ontario here. No matter how much I pull- it always comes back. Sometimes those ‘pretty’ wild ones are best left right where they are, for sure. What is that old saying? .. ‘Some things cost too much, even when they’re free’ .. . Lesson learned.

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Podcast: Soups, Soups & More Soups

I’VE FOLLOWED a vegetarian diet for decades, but it wasn’t until just a few years ago that I mastered a really good vegetable soup. Now I’m learning variations on vegetable-based soups, plus ones with beans and even ideas for mushroom soups, too–all thanks to Alexandra Stafford and these recipes. (Stream it below, read the transcript or subscribe free.)

https://robinhoodradioondemand.com/podcast-player/6211/vegetable-soup-ideas-with-ali-stafford-november-5-a-way-to-garden-with-margaret-roach.mp3

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mad gardener, nature addict, award-winning writer & podcaster, rural resident, corporate dropout, creator of awaytogarden dot com and matching book.

Instagram post 2190297402408409324_444552553 Snow day. To be followed by a snow night. #awaytogarden #wavehillchairs
Instagram post 2177779417009402040_444552553 No matter that it was 11F and 17F on mornings this week; my lifelong companions and I are all tucked in, each in our respective offseason spots. Three giant pots of #cliviaminiata that are actually pieces of my long-gone grandmother’s original plant from many, many decades ago, love the offseason bright cold of the mudroom, and get no water till around the new year or so. They need a chill (under 50 but above 35) for about 40 days to trigger timely bloom in late winter/early spring (without it they will bloom whenever, later, like June or even summer). The #alocasia reacts to the cold of the mudroom by shutting down and going dormant and leafless, and then I’ll let it sleep till late winter, when I give it a drink to see if it awakens. That one sleeps and wakes on its own timetable because I do not have a proper spot for it (ideally warm, like 60 or 65 at least, and humid and bright...no can do the humid part here). We have been together probably 10 years anyhow, despite my shortcomings as a #plantparent . #alocasiaamazonica #clivias #houseplantsofinstagram #houseplants #awaytogarden
Instagram post 2172580656557749859_444552553 Gardener: “I raked all the leaves!” Nature: “Oh, really?” (Cue sound of demonic laughter from on high.)
Instagram post 2170506606641504178_444552553 I wanna tell you how it’s gonna be You’re gonna give your love to me I wanna love you night and day You know my love will not fade away Not fade away Nope. Not this #cotinus leaf’s fiery hot love at least. Like the 1957 #buddyholly song I first heard by #therollingstones in 1964, it keeps going. #awaytogarden #fallfoliage2019 #cotinusgrace #notfadeaway
Instagram post 2168987273989949378_444552553 “Jack Frost nipping at your, er, geraniums...” And here it comes.
Instagram post 2166837817953503284_444552553 Constant companions: If you want to keep good company all winter, grow some good keepers. My house is stuffed with piles of #cucurbita awaiting their time in the oven or soup kettle. Each one is a character, distinctive. On one chair in the mudroom two close cousins in #cucurbitamoschata — the horse collar-shaped one called ‘Tromboncino’ or ‘Tromboncino Rampicante’ snuggles with some ‘Butternut.’ The ‘Tromboncino’ are better eaten green and small as #zucchini but I can’t resist their eventual mad size and shape, big enough to wear around your neck. I use their meat for enriching vegetable stock; the ‘Butternut’ are far more rich and delicious. Seed respectively from sandhillpreservation.com #sandhillpreservationcenter and @turtle_tree_seed (whose ‘Butternut,’ selected for “lastingness” for decades, will keep and keep into next spring or more). #wintersquash #awaytogarden #goodkeeper #cucurbitaceae
Instagram post 2162565040882902064_444552553 Furry fall friend: I look forward to crossing paths with this woolly caterpillar of the #giantleopardmoth this time of year, when its fiery intersegmental bands and plush coat seem to be just the right autumn-into-winter look. Miraculously this tiny animal will overwinter in a woodpile or in the leaf litter, even here in the North, building up a concentration of antifreeze (glycerol I think?) in its cells before the worst weather begins to avoid disaster. (Reminds me of the super-hardy #woodfrog who does similarly. Such heroes.) Swipe to see a beat-up pic of the adult moth, tattered with scales missing at its wing margins, but still dramatic. Unlike various spine-covered caterpillars that can sting you, this one’s hairs (or setae) won’t, but he will roll up tight if touched, in self-defense. I am in awe of such complex strategies of survival, I am. #mothsofinstagram #caterpillars #awaytogarden #hypercompescribonia #hypercompe
Instagram post 2161992098629435854_444552553 Beans are life. I mean, not only do I live on them daily (as I have as a vegetarian for 40+ years) but each one is a seed, a living embryo, a distinct and gorgeous little DNA miracle. I have been inspired by the hashtag #31daysofbeans by @lukasvolger lately, loving watching someone unknown to me (um, who shares my oatmeal thing too apparently...also see his #28daysofoatmeal) dish up the #phaseolus. We both admire bean ambassador Steve Sando @rancho_gordo and this photo might be my fave bean of all that I “met” via Steve years back, big and flat and chestnutty ‘Christmas Lima.’ My advice: don’t wait till Dec. 25 to dig in.
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Welcome! I’m Margaret Roach, a leading garden writer for 25 years—at ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ ‘Newsday,’ and in three books. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden, and always say no to chemicals and yes to great plants.

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