My Favorite Spot, May 11th

The SE side of our yard was a mess when we moved in. It’s shaded by a Norway spruce, 3 holly trees, and an enormous burning bush. The remaining spaces were filled with ivy, an Annabelle hydrangea, scraggly grass, and lawn violets. I smothered it all with leaves in the Fall of 2005. This week, my favorite spot is a portion of that border, beneath the female holly tree and just south of the shade bed.

This is sort of a rescue/wild area. One of our neighbors announced her intent to redo a portion of her backyard that had been the previous owner’s attempt at a wildflower garden. I transplanted at least a dozen columbine and several solomon’s seal. (I also successfully rescued a redbud, but that is planted elsewhere.) I added ‘Francee’ hosta that had been unhappy near the deck, ferns from along the SE side of the house, brunnera from the SW shrub border, and a Nikko Blue hydrangea that I got a great deal on at Funke's. Finally, I’ve added more wildflowers – toad lily from Pam, trillium from Tim, bleeding heart from Meijer (I’ve had really good results with the boxed, bareroot Dicentra), and Virginia bluebells from some mail order company. (And all these plants are just in the small circle around the holly. I’ve got even more interesting gems on the other side of the path!)

The columbine are currently blooming and I love the effect of the pale pink and deep purple blooms against the last of the bleeding heart and brunnera. It isn’t too far from the wallflower, so I get to enjoy sweet perfume as I pull tree seedlings from the leaf litter. Later in the season, I’ll enjoy orchid-like toad lilies, outrageously plump hydrangea flower heads, and the heady scent august lilies. I expect this to be my favorite spot more than once this season.

BBB: Dame's Rocket

I picked up a packet of Dame’s Rocket seeds at Big Lots during the summer of 05. Because spring had passed, all the seeds were deeply discounted. I hadn’t a clue what Dame’s Rocket was, but the package advertised it as a perennial. After a little more research, I learned that Dame’s Rocket (Hesperis matronalis) is classified as a “short-lived” perennial or biennial. While I found that a bit disappointing (this is before I started my BBB cause), I was thrilled to note that it is fragrant!

I also winter-sowed these seeds. Germination was easy. The plants developed into tidy rosettes, not unlike wallflower. I planted them into the garden in late summer 2006.

I chose to site the dames in my SE shrub border, which I had recently converted from grass to garden. The border runs along the southeast side of our property. It doesn’t get much morning sun, because the neighbor’s oak shades it, but it does get a blast of hot, late afternoon sun. It’s a difficult spot: too shady for sun plants but too hot and dry for shade plants. I gave the Dame's Rocket additional water during August and September to help them establish. They seem to love their home.

This spring, the rosettes shot up into gangly spurs (again, not unlike wallflower). However, they have reached up to four feet tall. The flowers are an unremarkable mauvey-purple, and quite fragrant. They are reputed to be more heavily scented at night, but I haven’t conducted a sniff test.

One note of caution is that this plant is listed as an invasive plant and noxious weed. It reseeds aggressively and can crowd out native wildflower species. I would advise against planting this in your premium garden space. It’s best used in the difficult spots where pampered plants won’t grow.

Summary
Germination: easy
Culture: easy
Form: neat first year, gangly second year
Scent: sweet floral
Color: pinkish purple