Early June. Sunshine (a little) and showers (lots). The Sweet Rocket (Hesperis matronalis) is looking lovely in Grapes Hill Community Garden and at the allotment.

Sweet Rocket with Hostas in Grapes Hill Community Garden

Sweet Rocket is a biennial or short lived perennial, native to southern Europe and western Asia. In Britain it is largely a garden plant, though it occurs on waste ground an tips (see distribution map). It has flowers that vary in colour from deep rich purple, through all the paler lilac shades to white. It has been growing for several years at the allotment and comes in varying flower colours, while the Grapes Hill plants were grown from seed last year and are all deep pink. The plants will gently self seed around the garden, meaning that you should only need to buy seed once.

Sweet Rocket will grow in full sun or partial shade and under a canopy of deciduous trees the flowers – especially lighter shades – shine out. The flowers are beautifully scented as well and this is most pronounced in the evening. Sweet Rocket is a close relative of Night-scented Stock (Matthiola longipetala), which has a similar scent. Both plants are members of the cabbage family, Brassicaceae.

Sweet Rocket flowers are attractive to wildlife such as moths, Green-veined White and Orange Tip butterflies and look good in an informal cottage garden. The plant is also known by other common names, including Dame’s Violet, Dame’s Wort, Night-scented Gilliflower, Summer Lilac and Mother-of-the-evening.