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| There are varieties of Joe Pye Weed. |
I use the The Growers Exchange for herbs. The plants come wrapped and in perfect shape, still moist. They only sell herbs, but herbs are a good investment.
I kept hearing about this plant in connection with butterflies and started two plants last year. They grew and bloomed fast. The main selling point - butteflies crowded around this plant like crazy and it stayed in bloom, giving off a pleasant medicinal scent.
This spring both plants came up and look ready to bloom again, ahead of the roses.
Readers will notice that certain plants instantly attract specific insects. Sometimes the plants (like daisies) attract overlooked but heroic insects (Tachinid flies). Daisies have the additional benefit of growing in ever-growing mounds. The Tachinids attack aphids, so this all seems planned for the rose garden.
Mountain Mint is a large plant that grows well with no pampering. Its constant habit of blooming means that various insects will have a constant source of food.
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| I have learned that tiny blooms are favored by tiny insects, which are beneficial. |
Garden Uses - Missouri Botanical Garden
Many people perceive Joe Pye weed to be nothing more than a roadside weed and have never seriously considered its outstanding ornamental attributes. It is a substantial plant which needs space, but when planted in groups or massed can provide spectacular flowering and architectural height. Border rears, cottage gardens, meadows, native plant gardens, wild/naturalized areas or water margins.
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By Nikki Tilley (Author of The Bulb-o-licious Garden)
Eupatorium purpureum, or Joe-pye weed as most people know it, is far from an unwanted weed to me. This attractive plant produces pale pink-purple flowers that last from mid-summer through fall. It’s a great addition to nearly any garden and a must have for wildlife lovers, attracting a multitude of butterflies with its sweet nectar. Growing Joe-pye weed flowers is a wonderful way to bring a little bit of nature to your backyard. What are Joe-Pye Weed Flowers? Joe-pye weed flowers were named after a New England man that used the plant medicinally for helping people with typhus fever. In addition to its medicinal properties, both the flowers and seeds have been used in producing pink or red dye for textiles. In their native environment, these plants can be found in thickets and woodlands throughout the eastern half of North America. The plants are hardy from USDA Zones 4-9. They reach heights of anywhere between 3 and 12 feet, offering great focal interest when using Joe-pye weeds in the garden. In addition, the flowers have a light vanilla fragrance that becomes more intense when crushed.Read more at Gardening Know How: Joe-Pye Weed Care – Growing Joe-Pye Weed Flowers And When To Plant Joe-Pye Weed https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/joe-pye-weed/growing-joe-pye-weed.htm
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Plant Care Today
Using Joe Pye Weed In The Landscape
These native perennials grow easily and well. It also makes a marvelous addition to a butterfly, hummingbird, and bee garden. The flowers smell sweet with a scent reminiscent of vanilla and extremely attractive to these beneficial pollinators.
Joe Pye Weed is especially recommended for those wishing to attract and support Monarch butterflies. Other butterflies, especially those that gets attracted to Joe Pye Weed flowers include black swallowtails and Tiger swallowtails.
Because these plants do grow tall (upwards of 6 feet) and thick, they also make an excellent spring and summertime privacy screen. Planting them in a hedge along property lines makes a smart use.
Also, this plant provides an excellent backdrop for a perennial garden consisting of shorter types of self seeding annuals and/or a bulb garden.
Because these plants blossom in the late summer and into the fall, they can take up where your early bloomers left off. In this way, you can make sure of having pretty flowers throughout the growing season.
If you struggle with damp, low spots in your yard, Joe Pye Weed serves as the perfect choice. It prefers average-to-rich soil and consistently moist, and it does quite well in areas of full sun to partial shade.
Full sun is definitely preferred because plants may grow excessively leggy and limp in light shade. With the right conditions, you can count on this sturdy survivor to grow well for you and provide both beauty and function.
Is It Really a Weed?
The term weed is open to interpretation. Joe Pye Weed comes from the wild and one can quickly consider it as a wildflower. It does grow natively, yet it submits to many positive uses and can make an excellent addition to a typical yard, a flower garden, and a butterfly garden.
Joe Pye Weed As Medicine
In natural medicine, you can use Joe Pye Weed in a number of different ways. The roots are considered especially beneficial and are gathered to be dried, ground and brewed as an herbal tea tonic.
The plant holds a long history of use in Native American and backwoods medicine. You can use the roots, leaves, and flowers of all varieties to create teas that are said to address problems as diverse as:
- Respiratory Problems
- Bladder Stones
- Kidney Stones
- Rheumatism
- Impotence
- Diarrhea
- Fever
- Gout
The plant contains immune boosting polysaccharides, and stimulating the immune system may help the body to overcome fevers and illnesses on its own.
Dry The Flowers, Leaves & Roots
Sweet Joe Pye Weed with its vanilla scented leaves is the best choice for making medicinal and relaxing teas.
To use the leaves and the stems as a medicinal tea, you should harvest them during the summer prior to the opening of the flower buds. Hang them or lay them out in an area that has good air circulation. When completely dry, you can store them for use as a medicinal tea.
To make a pleasant tasting herbal tea, harvest the flowers and dry them separately.
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Medicinal[edit]
Joe Pye (Jopi in the Native tongue), an Indian healer from New England, used E. purpureum to treat a variety of ailments, which led to the name Joe-Pye weed for these plants.[10] Folklore says that Joe Pye used this plant to cure fevers. Folklore also states that American colonists used this plant to treat typhus outbreaks.[11] The author Hemmerly writes that the Indians used Joe Pye Weed in the treatment of kidney stones and other urinary tract ailments.[12] A peer-reviewed study suggests that Joe Pye of plant fame was a Mohican sachem named Schauquethqueat who lived in the mission town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts from ca. 1740 to ca. 1785 and who took as his Christian name, Joseph Pye.[13]
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| Monarch Flower sounds more appealing than Butterfly Weed, a cousin of Milkweed. Monarch Butterflies need one or the other to attract them. And others like BW. |
