They are growing in my flower bad in my front yard, i keep them contained to the bed. They are pretty early bloomers.

How can you be so certain they are contained? They easily spread to roadsides, woodland edges, and your neighbors' yards. It's a noxious weed. You should get rid of it.

While walking on our county road with a friend, we noticed this flower blooming in the ditch alongside the road. Have never noticed it before.

5/13/11 These are just starting to open. There should be a lot open soon.

We have this around where I live. It's also known as Wintercress and it's not really a bad thing to have around. The leaves only (before flowering) are mainly used as food, for salads, and as a pot herb, or fried, and it's high in vitamin C and minerals. It's also used as a bitter medicinal tea to stimulate appetite, purify and strengthen blood (the Cherokee Indians practiced this), for coughs, and as a diuretic. Caution is advised in eating the raw plant, only small amounts 1 tbls. chopped leaves or less. Make sure you only consume from plants that are grown in pure clean soil because wintercress has an amazing ability to store contaminates, even pesticides, from the soil or water it grows in. There's an abundance of information about it's medicinal and edible uses if you Google the scientific name.

I can't really get very excited about its benefits to humans when I see it choking roadsides everywhere I go, like wild parsnip does in SE Minnesota. Please feel free to rid our landscape of yellow rocket, as it is an invasive pest that is spreading.

Found some of this in my back yard as I was mowing this am. It was a bit smaller than the ID specs but, in northern MN there shouldn't be any yellow flowers out there this time of year (on dry ground) that are native plants so I started looking it up to see what it was.

This plant is not on the prohibited noxious weed list, nor is it on the restricted noxious weed list.

It is only on the secondary noxious weed list which means that a county, if it so chooses, can add it to the list of prohibited or restricted noxious weeds. People can grow, import it, do whatever they like with it as long as their county doesn't view it as a problem. That is done for species that in some local environments can turn into real problems but usually are OK, like this one.

You're throwing out the baby with the bathwater if you confound the two types of list.

Jane, based on your other comments, you seem to have a fondness for invasive plants. I'm not really sure what point you are trying to make citing noxious weed lists, however, you may not be aware that "noxious weeds" are strictly an agricultural label, not an ecological one.

The Minnesota Dept of Agriculture regulates the noxious weeds in Minnesota. They are not an environmental agency so they make no consideration as to environmental factors, only agricultural factors. They are also a regulatory agency, not an enforcement or control agency.

Regardless of what you personally think of any particular plant, non-natives are killing our ecosystems more and more every year. Yellow rocket is now thick along every roadside I travel. It worries me that it and other weeds are allowed to run amok like this. Do you ever think that your children and their children won't know the beauty of a healthy native plant community because the only thing left will be weeds? I wonder if we as a community will ever open our eyes and see the damage plants like this are causing. Can we do anything to stop this destruction?

We have never had this on our farm before (at least not in notable amounts), but this year it is everywhere.

I'm noticing this plant blooming in large quantities at Gooseberry Falls State Park, along Hwy 61 and Scenic 61, and at the Two Harbors Lighthouse. I've never noticed it before in such large quantities and had a hard time finding it in North Shore flower books. If there some reason it is so abundant this year?

Found one plant by the side of our driveway, haven't seen it before. Pulled it out and will keep an eye out for more.

I just saw this blooming in my butterfly garden in an area that had been disturbed last summer (by a dog digging a huge hole). Then I noticed it in a couple more spots in my front garden. I will go out and pull it up. I live on the edge of the woods, plus some grassy areas, and don't want it to take over. I really don't like take over plants and understand the importance of preserving native species. I have been working on the buckthorn problem for years. Unfortunately, some people think it is "the woods" and take exception to it being removed. They don't have a clue as to the damage it is doing to the woodlands.

I saw this growing in my one year old flower bed and let it bloom just so I could identify it. Last year, we had soil brought in from a local garden center, and I thought maybe it would be a "special" type of plant, but now I will pull it as I don't want it taking over my new bed!

These plants make a delicious stir fry as well as used sparingly in salads. One of my favorite greens. I don't see any evidence that they are "choking out" native species. What native species have been threatened by yellow rocket? Sheesh, people wanting to eliminate a free, healthy food source. #firstworldproblems

I just noticed this out in my back yard just beyond some trees. It is growing in the field-like area that I was hoping to see more things like milkweed and native plants in. A couple years ago we had to have a bunch of oak trees cut down, hence, the field. After thinking about this, and reading all the comments, I think I will pull it out.

Found this growing alongside the road at the parking lot off of Aqua street.

We had one plant that exactly fits this description in our garden. This was new on our property this year. It was at the edge of our garden, which is next to a field of grasses, alfalfa, clover... and burdock, which is also trying to move in. We recently lost large spruce trees in weather events and since then, this plant showed up. It was pretty, but we prefer not to have this take over our small organic garden space. This is an informative site..thanks!

This just came up in my yard, first time ever.

Thanks to this site I was able to identify this plant when half a dozen of them suddenly appeared in my fenced backyard this May. All removed and on the lookout now.

I have a large population of these in the small prairie behind my house. I am happy to know what they are.

Garden Yellow Rocket invaded our Mississippi river native planting after 1 year and we removed it ASAP and put it in the garbage before it has a chance to "go to seed". There are so many other non natives that invade the area - constantly fighting the battle of buckthorn, canary reed grass, tansy and lately creeping bellflower. These plants are aggressive, and can quickly take over native species. We encourage all gardeners to stick with the natives!!!!

HOLY MOLY!! These flowers are literally in every ditch, road median, field, and yard in my entire county! I had been trying to figure out what these were and initially thought they were Stiff Leaved Goldenrods. After more extensive detail oriented research, I found that they were Garden Yellow Rockets. These are taking over!!

What we currently consider to be native species may not be historically native. Every flower either came from somewhere or specialized into something new (a true native). To say that a plant is native, you should be able to prove it from a fossil record. Just because it has been here a hundred years, does not make it native. If we had only arrived in this area today, we might consider this plant a native. Just a thought.

Valerie, plants that were here pre-European settlement are generally considered "native", though some North American species have been transported to areas outside their natural range. We know with some confidence which is which, especially with DNA testing. That's easier to do than finding fossil records for each species.

This growing along the Cty Rd. 77 trail, unfortunately, I believe purposely planted. Many other non-native plants showed up after the trail, burdock, bird's-foot trefoil, pennycress, and bull thistle are a few. So sad not to see all the native wildflowers that used to be there. By the time they were done, I believe they went on the "cheap" when it came to flowers.

A couple of my neighbors have allowed dense patches of this to develop on their properties. It having thus caught my attention. Since then I have noticed lots along all the highways I travel in the NE metro. I'm adding it to a list of plants to keep off my land.

When we reseeded one of our organic farm hay fields, we'rd never seen rocket there before but now the field is loaded with it. Must have come in with the seed.

Lin- we also just seeded a new horse pasture this spring (previously used for corn/soy beans) and it is everywhere! Anyone have any idea if it's toxic to any livestock, particularly horses?

Just got to my cabin on Lake Hubert in Nisswa and I have an acre of grass that has 1-2,000 of them growing in it this year. Started pulling them but gave up. (Not sure how people picked cotton for 12 hrs a day but am now very empathetic towards those who did. !). It's spring and they have just sprung up so I plan to mow them and apply post emergent weed killer. These are a tough problem.

This is our second year in our house, and I only just noticed two robust stalks starting to tower over the dandelions. I almost didn't even see them.

Not sure yet whether I have American or Garden Rocket, looked like it had some hairs though difficult to see/not many. I wonder if folks have differentiated what they have? Appreciate the guidance offered. Anyway I'm definitely not an expert so if I'm not convinced of my ID, I'll take to the Arb & see if they can help. I've been working (3rd year since moving in) on the back of our lot with the hope of going native. I'm told previous owner at one time had an "elaborate' garden. Have removed buckthorn, yards and yards of landscape fabric, and in my second year fighting garlic mustard. A mix of natives & non-natives are peeking through. Definitely a challenge!

Lorraine, if you look at the county distribution map, you'll see the native is primarily restricted to the arrowhead region of the state, so in all likelihood you have the non-native weed in your yard.