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Sweet Rocket
1634 Racine
Posts: 568
in Plants
Evening all. Lovely weather, eh? I still managed to get out for a bit of deadheading this evening once the rain stopped but still proceeded to get soaked thanks to a few close encounters in the border.
Anyhoo, I have had a couple of sweet rocket blooming beautifully for a couple of months now but they are just starting to go over. What should I do when they are done flowering? Cut them down? Any chance of a second flush?
Final question (I promise!) - are they perennial?
Thanks
Racine
0
Posts
If you deadhead you may get a second flush. If you don't, you get seeds to scatter around and more plants.
In my experience they only last two to three years, so I save seeds off of the best purple to raise a few new ones.
I've always regarded them as biennial. A bit like foxgloves, you might get a half-hearted attempt at a third year
In the sticks near Peterborough
Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm going to go for the full range of options then. Cut back, gather some seed and take some cuttings. All bases covered
There's one more option - whem I cut mine back in late summer it goes on the compost heap. When I use the compost for mulching little seedlings spring up. If they're in the 'wrong' place I move them ... Usually. This spring, what with 'family stuff' taking up a lot of time, I have a wonderful show of Sweet Rocket in the veg patch :-)
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
The original sweet rocket planted as a seedling in 2012
And two more grown from my compost spread in spring of 2015
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
My sweet rocket has been lovely this year, but has sadly flopped over (I presume from the heavy rains). I've got it right next to my main path and constantly brushing against it, which makes my garden smell lovely. Bees arent a huge fan, but it's visited by lots of hoverflies and other pollinators and even the odd butterfly.
My plan is to let it set seed and see how it does. Failing that I have a dozen seedlings on the go just in case.
Right, it's been cut back. There were a few flowers left but I was a bit fed up with how straggly it had become. Let's see what happens now. The couple of plants I had were very vigorous and so I'm expected them to grow back quite quickly.
It was the first time this year that I've grown sweet rocket and I was very pleased. I was worried about slugs and snails but they didn't touch it. The white flowers were a lovely contrast against the spring colour and lush green of early summer.
I didn't get a great deal of scent off it. Certainly nowhere near what my honeysuckle kicks out in the evening but overall it has been a pleasant experience. I will keep a look out for seedlings next year.