Dame’s rocket is a member of the Mustard family and is also known as dame’s violet. This native of Europe may be either a biennial or perennial, grows from 1 ½ to 4 feet tall, and has flowers ranging in color from white to pink to purple. This persistent plant is often sold in local nurseries and is found in wildflower seed mixes. As a result, it has escaped cultivation and become a problem throughout the Roaring Fork Valley, tending to invade riparian and wetland habitat.

Comments: Best form of control is to not plant this species. There is little information currently available on dame’s rocket control.

Biological controls: None currently available.

Chemical controls: For additional information contact your local city, county or town natural resource office. (See section VII for phone numbers.)

Cultural controls: Plant native wildflowers or less aggressive plants.

Mechanical control: Pulling or digging out the plant at flowering or early seed formation is effective.

Education: The key to dame’s rocket management is to create an awareness among homeowners, nurseries, landscapers, and landscape architects that dame’s rocket is a noxious weed and therefore should not be specified in plantings, sold in nurseries or planted in home gardens or large-scale landscape projects.