The Garden has replaced the fading lilac blossoms with more purple - this time with Dame's Rocket!
This joyous riot of lush purple has bloomed just in time to distract my attention from the fading lilac blossoms.
As if sensing my sadness at the passing of the lilacs, some of these purple lovelies have come up among the lilac bushes near the nettle colony. They almost mimic the lilacs blossoms!
These lush beauties are called, "Dame's Rocket" and they are blooming to distraction in the Kitchen Garden's herb bed. Some are also blooming in the Back Garden unmolested by the Chicken Girls who ignore them. From a chicken's point of view they aren't very tasty.
Dame's Rocket has a soft jasmine/honey-like scent that is neither cloying or overpowering. I used to have white ones...and still have a few pale pink ones, but the dominant color seems to be this plush, purple.
I think Dame's Rocket are related to phlox. The flowers are similar to tall garden phlox and the growth habit is too. However, Dame's Rocket is wilder and taller and seeds freely throughout any space it occupies. Perhaps Dame's Rocket is an ancestor from which tall garden phlox were bred.
I love Dame's Rocket! I let them seed freely throughout the herb bed and last year threw some seeds into the Back Garden where a few are now colonizing. This Spring I tossed seeds gathered last Fall into the borders of the Front Garden hoping to get some going there, too.
I gathered some for a bouquet (Dame's Rocket and clematis vine) to occupy a niche in the large bookcase in the sitting room.
The Dame's Rocket in my gardens grow between two to four feet tall depending upon how much water they get and the paucity or richness of the soil.
A bouquet of Dame's Rocket will last about a week. These annual flowers make a lovely display whether in the garden or in a vase.
This colony of Dame's Rocket cluster near the thick, thorny canes of an Apothecary rose in the herb bed.
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