Beware nonnative plants and seedlings

Many people think that the purple (and pink and white) flowers blooming on the roadside now are wild phlox. While these flowers are similar in appearance, they are not phlox but dame's rocket, a member of the mustard family. (If you take a close look, you can see that the roadside flowers have four petals; phlox has five.)

Dame's rocket is not native, and while pretty, it is an increasing threat to our native landscapes. It is a prolific seed producer, and the plants along the road are escapees from wildflower seed mixes. (Many wildflowers are not native to our area.)

If you buy seed mixes, please read the label to make sure you are not introducing alien plants into our already-challenged environment. Better yet, only buy seeds and mixes from native plant nurseries.

If you already have dame's rocket growing on your property, please remove it before it goes to seed or at the very least cut off the flowers to prevent seeds from forming.

Meredith Tucker

Citizens for Conservation

Barrington