Hesperis matronalis arrived on American shores with the earliest European settlers and has never quite left — nor does it intend to. Named for the Greek word for evening and the Roman festival of the Matrons, it blooms in early spring, filling open woodlands and garden edges with soft pink flowers that release their most potent fragrance after sunset. The name is apt on both counts: this is a plant that rewards the evening gardener.

A biennial by nature, it spends its first year as a rosette of foliage before sending up 1- to 3-foot flowering stems in its second spring. It self-seeds aggressively — a patch planted once becomes a colony without intervention. Grow it where it can be managed, in average well-drained soil in full or part sun, and deadhead before seeds set if spread is a concern. It is frequently included in commercial wildflower mixes despite originating in Europe, and it will crowd out native plants wherever it escapes into the wild.