Great Plants for Northern Gardens: Joe Pye Weed

If you have a rain garden or want to care for pollinators, such as bees, butterflies or other insects, plant Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium purpureum). It provides height at the back of prairie-style borders, looks wonderful in cottage gardens and can handle wet soils, making it  one of the great plants for northern gardens.

Joe Pye weed is a late-blooming, Minnesota-native wildflower. Its large purplish flower heads emerge in late August or September and add color to fall gardens.

Like other wildflowers, Joe Pye weed is tough, and in some situations it can become almost weedy. It likes wet soils (that’s why it does well in rain gardens) but it has a large root system, so it can tolerate drought. It’s deer resistant, too, making it a good choice for areas where deer are a problem. It’s also fragrant.

While not as popular with hybridizers as coneflowers, some cultivars of Joe Pye weed are available for specific garden situations. For instance, Eupatorium dubium ‘Baby Joe’ and Eupatorium dubium ‘Little Joe’ are more diminutive plants, growing 2 to 4 feet tall, a good choice for the middle of a border or even a container. If you like really, really big flowers, you might want to plant Eupatorium maculatum ‘Gateway’. This cultivar is a bit shorter than the species plant, but it has enormous flowerheads. They are bigger than your noggin—no kidding!

Joe Pye weed is hardy to USDA Zone 3 and generally disease- and pest-free. It’s a great choice for cottage, butterfly and prairie gardens.