JOE PYE WEED
http://www.thespec.com/living-story/5915087-september-is-prime-time-for-joe-pye-weed/
Handout,McClatchy-Tribune
The Little Red variety of Joe-Pye weed attracts a swallowtail.
Joe-Pye weed is major player in the September yard, especially if you want to attract butterflies.
Blooming in late summer until frost, Joe-pye
weed (Eutrochium dubium), grows 3 to 10 feet tall with dense heads of
fluffy pinkish flowers that are usually covered with butterflies, bees,
beetles and wasps — all in a feeding and pollinating frenzy.
"These plants are a little rough for a
formal garden," says native plant expert Helen Hamilton of Williamsburg,
Va.
"Long blooming and deer resistant, they can
grow very large and are great in a wild garden, or placed to the rear or
where a strong accent is needed."
Joe-Pye-weeds are meadow plants; most
require full sun, and acidic, rich soil with moist drainage, although
some tolerate shade, less moisture, coastal conditions and clay soil.
Clump-forming, they will not form extensive drifts, according to
Hamilton.
Members of the Aster family, Joe-Pye-weeds
have no rays (petals), only disk flowers, and they are tiny, making it
easy for small insects to access nectar, she adds. Butterflies,
including tiger swallowtails, monarchs and viceroys, also like the
flowers.
Coastal Joe-Pye-weed grows to five feet
tall. Little Joe is only three feet tall and compact. Its mauve-purpose
flowers are an excellent choice for a small butterfly garden.
Also a good choice for a rain garden,
Coastal Joe-Pye-weed grows naturally in bogs, swamps and wet clearings,
usually in acidic, poor soils.
Purple Joe-pye weed (E. purpureum) grows to
seven feet and Hollow-stem Joe-pye weed (E. fistulosum) can be more than
11 feet. The flowers of both species are pale pink to purplish, in
rounded domes, or loose clusters at the tops of stems.
"The name 'Joe-pye weed' comes from a tale
about a North American Indian called Joe Pye, who walked the streets of
Boston selling a cure for typhus, using an elixir of this plant to
induce profuse sweating, thus breaking the fever — although this story
is in some doubt among authors," says Hamilton.
"This plant is also called 'gravel root'
because it has the ability to remove and to a certain degree dissolve
kidney stones or gravel."
Daily Press (Newport News, Va.)
