The first ditch wildflower of spring
You know when spring is in full swing when you see Dame’s Rocket in the ditches. Dame’s Rocket (Hesperis Matronalis) is in the mustard family. It grows to 1-3 feet tall with purple, blue or white flowers. Although it grows wild in Michigan’s fields and ditches, it started as a colonial transplant from European gardens. The flowers attract nectaring butterflies, moths and hummingbirds.
This is one of my favorite wildflowers. They bloom every year in the ditches in front of our house and I can see them from various windows. Their colors are so vibrant and really stand out again the grass of the ditch. I have picked them in the past and they stay well inside in a vase. I don’t find them very fragrant, but that’s okay, their beauty makes up for it.
These, in front of our house, are the purple/blue color. Sometimes we get white ones depending on the year as can be either annual or biennial, so it’s a surprise each year what colors we will see.
You can see here they grow among all of the other “weeds” in the ditches.
I hope that you will stop and take a look at Dame’s Rocket when you see her in your neighboring ditch or field. She is very regal and only shows herself for a couple of weeks each spring.
Information on wildflowers comes from one of my favorite reference books: “Wildflowers of Michigan Field Guide. Copyright 2000 by Stan Tekiela.”