Naturalized Dame’s Rocket blooming in the wild – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Up in a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains there is a spot where a lovely plant called Dame’s Rocket blooms. They are beautiful to see but they are an introduced, invasive flowering plant from Eurasia. What I didn’t know at the time that I photographed the flowering Dame’s Rocket was that it is a prohibited plant in Utah.
Wildflower seed packets often have Dame’s Rocket seeds in them so it would be prudent in Utah to check any seed packets that are ordered on line or from out of state to make sure that Dame’s Rocket isn’t contained in the seed packet before planting.
Other names for Dame’s Rocket include: damask-violet, dame’s-violet, dames-wort, dame’s gilliflower, night-scented gilliflower, queen’s gilliflower, rogue’s gilliflower, summer lilac, sweet rocket, mother-of-the-evening, and winter gilliflower.
Close up of Dame’s Rocket growing in the wild – Nikon D500, f10, 1/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
The Noxious Weed Field Guide For Utah has this to say about Dame’s Rocket:
BACKGROUND: Native to Europe and central Asia. Damesrocket is sold in wildflower seed mixes and is desired for its sweet scent, as a cut flower, for its essential oil, and its attraction to butterflies. Leaves, seeds, and oil are also edible. However, it is highly aggressive and known for invading native landscapes.
DESCRIPTION: A biennial or simple herbaceous perennial. In its second season, the rosette produces 1-4 foot high flowering stalks. Stems and leaves are finely hairy, and leaves are lance-shaped with serrated edges. The four-petaled flowers develop separately on short, equal stalks along the stem. In spring, flowers bloom pink, white or violet, and long, narrow seedpods develop under the flowers.
CONTROL: Do not buy wildflower seed mixes that include damesrocket. Mow plants before flowering to prevent seed production. With flowering plants, pull before seeds mature and remove. Herbicides can be effective. Contact your state or county weed specialist for specific, updated information.
I’ve emailed the Summit County Weed Superintendent and sent him the GPS coordinates for the location of these plants because they can cause problems for native plants, degrade habitat and water quality.
Life is good.
Mia
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Ditto on the phlox thought.
Bummer that something so pretty can be such a “jerk.” :/
Thank you for your action. We have rather a lot of invasive intruders here. Pretty they certainly are, but…
Lavendar or white…pretty…smells so wonderful! I was sure it was some wonderful, sweet sweet-smelling, native, wildflower and was eager to grow it in my wildflower-pollinators garden…but, before I did, I looked it up and found, much to my disappointment, that it was on the invasive species list…NUTS!!!
I always thought it was a native plant. Good to know otherwise. It’s very prevalent here in southern Ontario. It is often confused with wild Phlox which is native to North America. Dames Rocket has 4 petals. Wild phlox has 5 petals.
Same here…I thought it was some kind of wonderful wild phlox…