Close-up of vibrant Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket) by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, glowing in sunlight with a blurred green background and part of a house with a tiled roof and white siding.
Close-up of vibrant Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket) by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, glowing in sunlight with a blurred green background and part of a house with a tiled roof and white siding.Clusters of vibrant Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket) from Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden bloom with green stems and leaves in a sunlit garden, with a blurred wooden fence and trees under a clear blue sky.Sunlit clusters of Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket) by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden display vibrant blooms and green foliage, set against a softly blurred backdrop of trees and blue sky.Close-up of Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket) by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden—tall, delicate purple flowers with four petals and slender green stems—blooming abundantly outdoors against a soft-focus, leafy background.Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket) by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden features tall clusters of vibrant purple flowers with green stems and leaves, blooming beautifully against a clear blue sky.Close-up of Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket) from Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, featuring tall green stems and vibrant purple blooms against a clear blue sky—perfect for a lively spring or summer cottage garden scene.Close-up of Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden's Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket) with vivid blooms, green stems, and leaves illuminated by sunlight. A softly blurred building with a rusty roof appears in the background.Close-up of vibrant Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket) flowers by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, featuring delicate purple petals and green stems set against a blurred background of more blooms and lush greenery.A yellow circular badge with a stylized black and white bee in the center. Black text reads RHS PLANTS FOR POLLINATORS—ideal for gardens with Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket) by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden or other purple blooms.Clusters of vibrant Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket) flowers from Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden bloom among green stems and leaves in a sunlit garden, with trees and a clear blue sky in the background.A garden bursting with Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden’s Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket) blooms in front, while a white greenhouse peeks from lush trees beneath a sunny blue sky.Close-up of Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden's Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket): vibrant four-petaled purple blooms and lush green leaves, beautifully lit in the garden with a softly blurred background.Clusters of vibrant purple Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket) flowers by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden bloom brightly, with green stems and leaves under sunlight. More blossoms and a hint of blue sky appear in the background.Close-up of Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket) by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, showcasing clusters of vibrant purple, four-petaled blossoms with green stems against a blurred background of foliage and blue sky.Close-up of vibrant Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket) flowers by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, blooming among lush green foliage with more purple blooms blurred in the background for a colorful, cottage garden scene.Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket) by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden features clusters of vibrant purple blooms with lush green foliage beneath a clear blue sky and blurred trees in the background.
Biennial Pollinator

Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket)

Hesperis matronalis

£2.20approx. 500 seeds

Classic violet-purple Sweet Rocket with powerful violet-and-clove dusk fragrance — the cottage garden classic and Orange Tip butterfly's preferred food plant.

Sowing months
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Height
75-90cm
Spread
45cm
Spacing
40cm
Position
Partial shade to full sun
Soil
Moist, well-drained, fertile soil
Grow guide
How to grow Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket)
Read the full guide →
About this variety

The classic violet-purple sweet rocket, the form that has been filling English cottage gardens with evening scent for centuries. Loose clusters of four-petalled flowers on branching stems at 75 to 90cm.

It is worth understanding what it is for. As a daytime plant it is unremarkable and slightly coarse. As an evening plant it is one of the best things there is; the fragrance of violets and cloves comes up as the air cools and carries a surprising distance. If you have a seat you use after supper, put this behind it.

Biennial, so a rosette in year one and flowers in May and June of year two, then it dies having seeded generously. It will hold a colony indefinitely without further help, and it will also wander, so pull the seedlings you do not want.

It is a brassica, and that matters twice over. The orange tip butterfly lays on the flower buds and seed pods and its caterpillars feed there, so leave some standing rather than tidying it all away. And it gets mildew and flea beetle like any other brassica, particularly in a dry summer.

Plant alongside

Hesperis Purple (Sweet Rocket) pairs beautifully with these cottage garden classics

Geum Lady Stratheden
Geum Lady Stratheden
£2.35
Foxglove Primrose Yellow
Foxglove Primrose Yellow
£1.90
Hesperis White (Sweet Rocket)
Hesperis White (Sweet Rocket)
£2.20

RHS Plants for Pollinators

This plant has been assessed by the Royal Horticultural Society and recommended as especially beneficial to bees, butterflies and other pollinators. Growing plants like this directly supports UK pollinator populations — something close to our hearts at Salle Moor Hall Farm, where we see the difference a cottage garden full of the right plants can make.

Learn more at RHS.org.uk →