With vibrant purple, white, or variegated flowers, the invasive Dame's Rocket is blooming now.

Linda Diane Feldt | Contributor

Eat your invasives — it's a great idea for many of the plants we’d like to see less of. Garlic mustard is at the top of the list, but also Autumn Olive, Dame’s Rocket Hesperis matronalis, many thistles, plantain, and so many others.

Many invasives were introduced for their value in other ways (including great taste or medicinal use), and then things just got a bit out of control. You can see Dame’s Rocket in beautiful full bloom right now in untended gardens, along roadsides, and certainly in local fields. There is lots of it, and it does crowd out other native plants.

Dame’s Rocket is often mistaken for Phlox, Phlox paniculata, Phlox stolonifera and others. Phlox has five petals, while Dame’s Rocket has just four. The Dame’s Rocket (a member of the mustard family) has purple and white flowers to add to salads — do not use Phlox flowers.

Adding flowers to salads can make a plain ordinary salad something truly beautiful and extraordinary. And they taste good. A little mustardy, and a little spicy sometimes. Mixed in with greens, they add color and beauty, and the taste isn’t overwhelming.

Because Dame’s Rocket is invasive, eating the flowers and then pulling the plant is a good compromise to keep it from overtaking your yard, and keeps it from spreading elsewhere.

Linda Diane Feldt is a local Holistic Health Practitioner, teacher, and writer “providing an integrated approach to holistic health care since 1980”. You can follow her on twitter, visit her website, or contact her directly ldfeldt(at)holisticwisdom.org. Her cookbook “Spinach and Beyond: Loving Life and Dark Green Leafy Vegetables” is available at Nicola's Books, Crazy Wisdom and Morgan and York, or from Amazon.com. The cookbook includes recipes for wild and conventional greens.