Dames Rocket

sevreal months back I was buyign a bunch of seed and usally get sevral things from one seller to save on postage. I saw a pic of somethign that struck my fancy and bought it. was goign through the seed box to get perennials that need to go ready and forget I had thes e seeds. 2,000 of em. I bought from the pic and not from the name. bad .. bad me. slap my bidding fingers.

Well I didn't know what Dame s rocket was and so I googled and so far I have foudn a few site s and they say it's invasive. Wante d to make sur eit was if anybpdy knows, cuz I would rather destroy a bucks worth of seeds than plant a 1,000 and give away a thousand if they are bad boys.

It is invasive in many areas, not sure if yours is one of them but I would definitely hesitate before planting them. Hopefully someone who lives near you can comment on whether they're a problem in your climate or not, many plants are invasive in some areas but perfectly well behaved in others.

I planted 3 plants 2 years ago, and only 1 returned this spring - in a partly shady dry site - which might be controlling it..

They're in my parents timber. Everywhere. Part sun, part shade, shade, dry. Bad enough getting rid of all the honeysuckle and multiflora rose, but now I have to deal with these too.

I planted a couple of Dames Rocket a few years ago and they have behave quite well. They grow quite tall with unusual shaped yellow flowers. They look beautiful at the back of the garden. They are in a shady spot which receives a couple of hours of sun a day. Not a bit invasive..........may be due to our climate here in Nova Scotia.

Hummmmmmmm. Some good and some bad. Think I am not gonna take a chance on them. I don't have time to be chasing wild seedlings especially if they like woody areas. Don't want my natives run out of the yard. May se e about offering up to somebody who they not invasive in their area.

It hard remembering all that pretty not good when ya see a lovely bloom.

I guess I was mistake starlight what I have growing is not Dames Rocket but what we just call The Rocket. I checked out some pixs of Dames Rocket and they look nothing like the tall yellow flower I have growing

I'm glad you clarified bluecow as I've never seen any yellow dames rockets. The ones my parents have are the purple-ish ones.

The key to Dames Rocket is to control it's seed production. If you have ten plants next year only let one flower spike set seed for next years crop. Hoe out any seedlings that you don't want. Most of our problems come from us hating to be ruthless when we have self sowers. We hate to pull up hand fulls of living plants for the better of the bed.

You are so right KyDaylilyLady..... Ya struggle and struggle to get them to grow and bloom and then it hard to cull. I know myself, I have gotten better at it this year myself. Instead of letting the Columbines all go to seed, I been out there constantly with a scizzors dead headign those plants and only letting a few go to seed.
Which could be why her e now it August and 105F outside and mine still in more sun than shade are still growing and blooming there heads off instead of goign to sleep. Frustrating to say the least. They need to rest for next year.

If you're struggling to be rid of invasive species, then the key is not to allow any to go to seed, but rather mow then down, or if in a garden situation, pull them as soon as the identity is known.

The Latin name for this plant is Hesperis matronalis. The Nature Conservancy had some very interesting information on this plant that you might want to look up. As far as offering it to somebody who lives where it isn't invasive... it's naturalized in all the states that are appearing hi-lighted in green on this map-
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=HEMA3
Not good odds given the map isn't updated as frequently as it should be and I suspect several other states would be green if it was updated regularly.

The big problem with Dame's Rocket is that it is being used as a cheap filler in many "wildflower" mixes and additionally, even people with the best intentions have not been able to control its seed production. That's why it repeatedly escapes cultivation and one of the main reasons it has formally been identified as being invasive. It's also been formally identified as a noxious weed. Each plant is a prolific seeder having numerous clusters of flowers at assorted stages of development which enables the plant to produce both flowers and seeds at the same time. Deadheading this type of a plant doesn't do much more than increase the number of flowers and extend the bloom season. Leaving one plant to set seed could potentially mean 1,000+ seeds dispersed into the landscape. The germination rate on Dame's Rocket is real high.

If you really like the look of this Dame's Rocket, you might want to consider Phlox paniculata (Tall Phlox). The two species look very similar. One has 5 petals, the other only 4 and one has alternate leaves while the other has opposite. Phlox paniculata is available in more colors too! Look here-
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Phlox+paniculata&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi
Way cool, eh?

Equilibrium.... I appreciate the auggestion of the Phlox, but it doesn't like it here. One year I spent a small fortune buying a bunch of the one gallon pots from Home Depot. The plants were nice and healthy and I had managed to get them fresh off the truck. They looke d good for about two weeks and when the Crepe Myrtles and Dogwoods all got powdery mildew so they did they.

I had tried a fungicide and even cuttign them back but they were toast. I had to pull every one of them up. With such high temps and high humidity here they are a mildew magnet.

I was cleaning my worktable off yesterday and after your post , not even gonna take a chanc e on them not being invasive for somebody else and pitched the seed. better to be safe than feel guilty later about addign to the problem.

Be careful with fungicides starlight1153, they make me very nervous.

Any time I see any plant appear as having naturalized in a few states, I pitch the seed too. It's not worth it to me to add to the problem either so I know what you mean.