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| Joe Pye Weed is famous for its height, pollinator pride, and musky fragrance. |
Now that Joe Pye plants are seven feet tall, loaded with bees and butterflies, it is time to take down the heaviest and slouchiest plants. The thick stems hold up enormous flowerheads filled with tiny flowers. I put two of them in a heavy vase for Sunday and the contraption fell over. One stem was enough to imagine the top-heavy flower crashing during the service. An unhappy bumblebee coasted in front of me during the sermon, perhaps wondering what happened to its earliest paradise of pollen.
I will chop down many of the Joe Pyes and use them as free mulch to improve the soil and discourage the obnoxious weeds (aka free weeds, air express weeds, and hated weeds). The Joe Pyes will come back late in spring, God willing.
Perhaps it is the climate - the roses planted do not do well the first year from the gardening center or national distributor (Jackson and Perkins, no relation). Even though I gather rainwater in barrels, front and back, nothing seems to help very much. The next spring, good becomes great, and optimism emerges.
A British gardener suggested this for all gardens - "Do not plan something here and there, waiting for the flowers to fill in the space. Jam the space full of plants and do some editing later."
Our greatest weakness is the failure to allow for the roots. They are tiny at first in related to the future plant and even the potted plant. They are crowded and longing for the right soil. The Lord of Creation has set up hundreds if not thousands of ways for that plant to survive and thrive, if only we are patient.
