Caterpillars
By Arbuthnot
Buckinghamshire,
United Kingdom 
Wondering why my seed grown rocket wasn’t flowering I went to the back of the border for a look. To my horror there were dozens of cabbage white caterpillars all over them along with very many eggs. Most of the leaves were almost eaten away. I counted 30 of the green/black spotted crawlies on my three now almost non existent plants then gave up. I dug them all out. Wish I’d known how attractive wild rocket was to cabbage whites before I planted them!
18 Aug, 2021
Answers
Flowering? Are you growing them as ornamentals? Rocket & Cabbage are cole crops and prefer the cool seasons of early spring and fall. The slugs finished off what the cabbage whites left behind. I learned the hard way. lol.
18 Aug, 2021
Maybe Arbuthnot meant Dame's Rocket?
22 Aug, 2021
i read that as sweet rocket; Hesperis matronalis, as she said back of the border. Is that what you call Dame's rocket?
23 Aug, 2021
It was Hesperus Matronalis. Sadly it’s now gone in the garden waste bin. I do love it though.
23 Aug, 2021
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The white family all like brassicas and their relatives as well as nasturtiums. They used to be known as cabbage whites for that reason but it was then realised that their was the large white, small white, green veined white and the black veined white[no longer as a breeding butterfly n the UK]
Size isn't the descriptor for the large and small whites, its to do with how much the black pattern on the upper wings travels down the wings.
18 Aug, 2021