Like a Rocket - A Dame's Rocket, That Is!

The farmstead was abandoned long ago. Time has erased the evidence that this little grove of trees ever sheltered a family from the worst of the Kansas winds. 

Only the Dame's rocket was left behind. The spindly purple-headed plants are still nestled in a grove of trees along the Raymond Road. Randy noticed them several years ago, and since then, we watch every spring for their blooming. 

Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses says that Dame's rocket was "an ornamental often planted by early settlers."

Granted, I have a vivid imagination, but I think about a farm wife new to the open plains of Kansas. Many settlers at the time had come from the east - from areas with more trees and vegetation. And I think about her trying to beautify this little spot of a new home with some pretty purple blooms.

Dame’s rocket (Hesperis matronalis) produces either white, pink or purple flowers in April and May. It was introduced to North America in the 1600s from Eurasia.  It is often seen in roadside ditches, hedgerows and older farmsteads. Scott Vogt from Dyck Arboretum in Hesston sees Dame's rocket as an invasive weed. In a publication from Dyck's Arboretum, Vogt writes: 

Dame’s Rocket is closely related to other problematic weeds of the mustard, family such as garlic mustard, hedge mustard, wild radish and yellow rocket. All of these weeds are prolific and opportunistic, infesting field margins, woodlands, open grassland and wetlands.  It ... has the ability to produce chemicals that prevent or reduce the growth of other plants similar to garlic mustard. With these tendencies, Dame’s rocket and garlic mustard will quickly form dense monocultures within a few years, pushing out other desirable native plants. 

That may be, but I still love the purple nestled under the trees. Randy knows I love them, so he tried to transplant some of the Dame's rocket at our homestead last year. It didn't take. So he tried again this year. We'll see how it fares.

 I am firmly in Winnie the Pooh's camp on this one:

Weeds are flowers, too,

once you get to know them.

Winnie the Pooh

 

Peekaboo Flowers

Sometimes, I get blinded by the road before me. I'm hurrying to the next thing - whether that's picking up someone from the field or getting to town for a meeting. The dotted lines down the center of the blacktop can be hypnotizing - churning away the miles to get me to where I'm supposed to be.

Sometimes, I think it's my eyesight that fails me. I see the fluffy clouds dotting a bright blue sky, and I say a little prayer for that extra bit of beauty in my day. But the smaller things seem to elude my glasses-obscured peripheral vision.

That's when it's good to have a farmer who only needs glasses for reading. He sees some of those little things I miss. And he's good about sharing. Last week, he told me about some pretty purple blooms along the Raymond Road. He saw them while on a tractor, so it also put his line of sight above the CRP grasses. I had to go and see them for myself. 

Besides having an observant husband, I knew I could send a photo to my Master Gardener friend, Jeanie, and have the blossoms quickly identified. She says they are Dame's Rocket or hesperis matronalis, if you want to get all technical. Her seed catalog says that "hesperis" is Greek for evening, and the name was probably given because the scent of the flowers becomes more conspicuous towards evening. I can verify that, as I parked the car and waded through the ditch and downed tree limbs to see them up close.

This beautiful "crop" is likely at the site of an old farmstead. Jeanie says she's been seeing stands of these purple blossoms as she's delivered mail on rural routes in the last few weeks. 

Dame's rocket was brought from Europe in the 17th Century. In our neighboring Colorado, this member of the mustard family has been identified as a noxious weed (according to Wikipedia). I'm reminded of an A.A. Milne quote:

Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them. 
A.A. Milne
Author of Winnie the Pooh

They look like flowers to me. And beautiful ones at that.