06/08/2026
The Hillsides are in Bloom, BUT...
Many of us grew up calling these roadside and hillside pink and purple flowers wild phlox, but look carefully. What you may be seeing is the non-native, aggressive wildflower, called Dame's Rocket, Hesperis matronalis. It is considered invasive.
,You can distinguish it from wild phlox by the number of petals. Dame's Rocket has four while Phlox has five.
You do not want to invite Dame's Rocket into your landscape. A single plant can produce 20,000 seeds, and smothers native wildflowers by creating dense stands that outcompete and crowd out native wildflowers in open woodlands, roadsides, and ditches. If you have it, you'll want to pull it or mow it before it sets seed. If you are planting wildflower seeds, you'll need to be careful because it is sometimes packed in wildflower mixes. Instead, look for Wild Blue Phlox, Phlox divaricata 'Blue Moon, for that spring beauty.
https://cornellbotanicgardens.org/plant/wild-blue-phlox/
https://extension.sdstate.edu/whats-difference-between... See less
