Plants→Joe Pye Weed→Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium purpureum)

Give this plant plenty of room, I think it is best in a largish clump. It makes a good summer screen, and the leaves turn yellow in the fall. I leave mine standing all winter for the birds to snack on.

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This Sweet Joe-Pye-Weed or Joe-Pye is one of the more common, wide-spread species that are so similar, along with the Spotted and Hollow Joe-Pyes. It grows about 4 to 7 feet high. It bears 3 to 4 leaves whorled around the stem, and the stems are solid inside and usually are green except for a swollen, purplish area where the leaves whorl around the stems (the nodes). The purplish-pink flowers often are vanilla-scented along with crushed leaves, but not always. This species in nature grows in partial shade the most, and in drier soil than most of the other species. Its native range is from Minnesota to southern New Hampshire and then southward deep into the South into Zone 8. Like other Joe-Pye, its flowers are very attractive to many kinds of butterflies, moths, and bees. Its foliage is attractive to a number of beneficial insects whose larva feed from it, which is a good trait that helps ecology. It is sold by a good number of native plant nurseries. It makes a good, upright garden perennial that is easy, reliable, and low maintenance. Its root system is shallow and fibrous and if needed it can be divided and reset or propagated that way.

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