Ruby and the Rockets (and Rabbits!)

Ruby and the Rockets!  

(Are you thinking that's a great name for a band? Okay, I'm glad to know I'm not alone.)

The kind of rockets I'm writing about are Dame's Rockets.  And the rabbits... you are going to have to wait til the end of this post to see!

Dame's Rockets are blooming now.

Yes, that's the name for those pinkish/purplish/whitish flowers that many people call Phlox. 

They do look very similar to Garden Phlox, and unless you look at them closely, you probably wouldn't notice the difference.

So, let's go with Ruby to look more closely and see.

Dame's Rocket flowers have only four petals and are actually in the Mustard family, while a true Phlox has five-petaled flowers and is in the Phlox family.

It is also not a 'native' (note the word 'Alien' after its name in the above photo.  While not native to our region (it's from Eurasia), it certainly has 'naturalized' here.  

Garden Phlox, on the other hand, is a native phlox (Phlox paniculata) which has been cultivated and hybridized.  There are many color varieties.  The one I have in my garden is a white one called 'Miss Lingard'.  It's not blooming yet this year so here's a photo from last year of it with a Hummingbird Moth (or Hummingbird Clearwing).

It's a little hard to see in the photo, but the flowers do have 5 petals.   

Another difference between Dame's Rocket and Phlox is their leaves.  Phlox have opposite leaves and Dame's Rocket have alternate leaves (referring to their placement on the stem).  You can see the arrows pointing to the leaves in my field guide.

And in real life-- Dame's Rocket leaves:

and Phlox leaves:

Both flowers are sweet-smelling and pretty!  

Gather yourself a bouquet of Dame's Rocket... there are plenty of them.

But don't ask me why they are different colors... I don't know, and I haven't found anything in my research that tells.  (Sorry, Laura!)

Now, you've learned more about these flowers than you probably cared about (and not what you wanted to know, Laura) but your patience in reading will now be rewarded with the second part of my title... "(and Rabbits!)".

While Ruby and I were on our walk, looking at Dame's Rockets (which she was NOT at ALL interested in), she found something she was VERY interested in.

This area had been tall grass just a few days before and then it was rotary mowed, leaving this exposed--

 I had to drag Ruby away from it, because inside were...

BABY BUNNIES!

After putting Ruby in the house, I went back to check on this furry, occasionally undulating nest.  I very carefully opened it up slightly with a long, thin stick.  After taking a couple of quick photos, I closed it back up and gently placed some long pieces of dried grass over it.

This morning I couldn't resist checking on the bunny nest again.  I am happy to report that the babies seem to be doing fine!   Here's a couple of peeks:

Which do you like better?  The bunnies or the flowers?  Ruby says, definitely the rabbits!