I have this lovely thug in my garden, in a vivid magenta that looks oddly right with peach-colored oriental poppies, blue nepeta, a purple-leaved herbaceous clematis, and an assortment of other bright colored flowers and foliage plants.

I keep promising myself I'll eradicate it, but end up dead-heading it every year instead. This is probably the year to finally start getting serious about removing it. If it showed up in a nearby wild area (a vacant lot, actually) I'd be kicking myself for a long time, but I have not yet seen any signs of it outside the immediate vicinity of where I planted it - no seedlings, not even in my compost.

I'm not sure phlox will do the trick, with its soft (though lovely) color ... maybe I'll try it though. Better than worrying about this plant, really.

Thanks for the heads up, stoloniferous!

Hi DTD! :)

I was peeved when I figured out what this beautiful flower was. The aphids ran amok in my lupines right next to it, and this stuff went untouched. I was so hoping it was a type of phlox. Foo!

At least now my compost heap looks pretty this week. . .

I'm not as familliar with tall phloxes, but I know the creeping variety come in very similar colors. (Because I've been ogling the creeping phlox in other peoples' yards this spring with envy!)

if you were local i would love to pick some up. i have been trying to find some locally. there is some along the roads just am not to crazy about digging up plants in public places.

Well, thank you...you've solved the mystery of what the beautiful plant was growing inside our large poison ivy patch near the pond..I thought it was something the former owners planted! so....now how do I dig that up without getting poison ivy....and I don't want to use poison near the pond even on the poison ivy!....time to call in the professionals i guess!

weedsmakemecrazy - The former residents may well have planted it. The previous residents of my house left me some in a flowerbed. If the dame's rocket is tall enough that you could grab the top of the plant without touching the poison ivy, then that should be all you need to rip it out of the ground. But I would suggest wearing rubber gloves, long pants and sleeves, stuff it straight into a trash bag or otherwise handle it with caution, since it has been fraternizing with the poison ivy.

normana, er, am I misunderstanding you? It sounds like you are asking for dame's rocket. If that is what you are asking, I am afraid that the sale, trade, purchase, distribution and related activities for dame's rocket are now prohibited in Massachusetts.

Anyone who does not believe that you learn something new every day obviously doesn't belong to garden web.

I checked the images on the link soloniferous provided, and read several other pages about Hesperis matronalis (including some, from southern and midwestern state agencies, that recommended this plant as a wild flower!) and found that what I've got is almost certainly NOT dame's rocket.

Mine has more than 4 petals per flower (5 or 6) and the structure of each flowerette is different from Hesperis, not flat and smooth but with prominent ... stigmas (or are those anthers???). I'm relieved, tentatively, and also stumped.

The stems of my plants are very sticky, the leaves are 3-5" long, sword shaped, glossy, and form a basal rosette. I think I started these from seed from T&M, many years ago, but I can't find a seed packet with any possible candidates.

So, all those years of procrastination may have paid off.

Normana, I suspect that anyone who is willing to remove this ornamental thug from his garden to prevent its escape into the wild would be unlikely to give it to someone else to plant, even if that person is from another state.

Gosh I loved this plant in my Denver gardens. The seeds didn't survive there in our strong sun, heavy clay and heat so we didn't have any probs whatsoever. I'm a manic deadheader (with coffee cup and robe in the morning particularly lol) but that's more for appearances sake normally AND to promote rebloom quickly which it always did with the Dames.

But my elderly neighbor had a small stand of them next to her picket fence that NEVER got deadheaded and nothing spread over many years....just depends upon the environment. Here? It's a beauty but certainly a pest.

I've been sadly unsuccessful from talking a friend out of planting Evening Primrose that she bought at a "charity" sale. Oh lordy............

Funny...25 yrs ago when I first started with perennials the first one I experimented with was PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE. Luckily I couldn't get it to grow since it needed watering about 3x per day there.....lol.

OK, I'll be the devil's advocate here. I don't see dame's rocket growing wild anywhere in my town, except for one place near an old house. I drive all over the Boston area and southern NH and ME--I don't see it the way you see purple loosestrife, for example. How did it ever get on the bad guy list? It's been growing in gardens for many centuries--not mine--it wouldn't take when I tried it years ago. Where is this a documented problem?

Jant - what's wrong with Evening Primrose?? I winter sowed and planted out Oenothera macrocarpa, Missouri evening primrose.

Terrene...should have been more specific. I'm referring to Mexican Evening Primrose, not Missouri. Mexican is pale pink and a sheer terror! In Denver, one 4" pot planted in summer became close to 10 sq feet the next spring! I haven't ever had the Missouri but I hear it's better behaved than the species.

Ginny....I have to agree with you too. I hear it's a pest but personally I haven't really seen evidence of it....just here and there a small group. The oxeye daisy is everywhere however. Shame...it's a beautiful and early daisy. Took me 4 yrs to get rid of it though.

As far as I've read, oxeye daisy is only a problem in agricultural areas, where it can invade pastures and lower the "yield" for cattle.

Dame's rocket can colonize wild areas, including forests, and can overwhelm native flora. It's biologically similar to garlic mustard, which is becoming the third worst plant pest where I live - right up there with phragmites and loosestrife.

Where I live in Connecticut, Dame's Rocket is growing along waterways and railroads. There is a lot of it growing and it does look really pretty as you are driving by. It is in full bloom now.

From what I've seen, ginny, dame's rocket isn't on the scale of badness as purple loostrife. But it is abundant along wild wood edges out in the Franklin area, where it was obviously never planted.

I thought Leslie Lands take on the invasiveness of Dames Rocket in the NY Times was interesting. To sum up unless the plant is near an undisturbed ecosystem you are better off not removing the Dames Rocket or preventing it from going to seed as itÂs likely a more troublesome invader would move in. kt

Here is a link that might be useful: Invasives and Dames Rocket - NY Times