Wildflower Wednesday: Joe-Pye Weed

Welcome to Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday celebration. This month's star is Joe-Pye Weed, which has recently undergone a name change from Eupatorium to Eutrochium. What ever the name, they're  big, beautiful rough and tumble wildflowers that bloom in the middle of our hot, humid summers.

Colossal, bodacious, statuesque, and tough are just a few of words I've heard gardeners use to describe one of my favorite summer pollinator magnets.

They are a quintessential Clay and Limestone rough and tumble wildflower and only require a little special care! They do need to be well established (watered in well the first year) to handle a hot, dry summer and even then a planting might need a big gulp of water once a week. I admit, the straight species is tall and can fall over in a heavy rain (we have those in the Middle South) and the foliage is often described as coarse; but, tall plants like the Joes can be cut back to keep them bushy. Their leaves and deep colored stems are assets in my garden, offering contrast and texture next to the small leaved Echinaceas, Coreopsis, Rudbeckias and Phlox.

I almost always prefer the straight species, but, in this case, the species might be too big and too wild for most gardens! Don't despair, they've tamed this beauty without taking away its best characteristics.

This one plant has a lot going on~ color, texture, beauty and wildlife value

Smaller cultivars like E dubium 'Baby Joe', at under three feet might be just what you're looking for or if you have more space E maculatum 'Gateway',  E maculatum 'Phantom' and E dubium 'Little Joe', will stay under 6 feet. You can always cut them back in the early summer, the plant will be bushier, but the flowers will be smaller.

 If you want drama and have the space, go for the straight species.

Joe-Pyes have prominent petal-like rays, but no petals

What about in my garden? 'Baby Joe' is new this year and seems to have settled in. Yes, I do a deep watering once a week if we don't get rain. 'Gateway', 'Phantom', 'Little Joe' and species E fistulosa are well established but, an extended drought will severely impact them, so they also get supplemental watering during our long, hot and humid summer.

They are magnets for butterflies, bumbles, honeybees, and other pollinators

What all the Joe-Pyes have in common (species doesn't matter) are great big mauve/lavender-pink flower heads that bloom late summer into the fall. The flower head is made up of 8 to 20 petal-less disk flowers, each with 2 long stringy styles and 5 tiny lobes

 They're beautiful, bodacious wildflowers.

Easily grown in average soils, they do prefer, moist, fertile, humusy soils in full sun. Do yourself a favor, let the fluffy brown flower heads stand all winter. They make a wonderful winter statement.

Silvery Checkerspot perching on E fistulosum

If you garden for wildlife this is a must have plant, but, you don't have to take my word for it, just watch the pollinators that visit it all day long. 

xoxogail

Just the facts:

Family: Asteracea
Genus: Eutrochium (formerly Eupatorium)
Species: purpureum, maculatum, fistulosa, dubium
Cultivars: 'Little Joe', 'Baby Joe', 'Gateway', 'Purpureum' and 'Phantom'
Color(s): purple, rose flowers
Soil: Fertile, moist, clay, loam, silt
Sun Exposure: Full sun/partial sun/morning shade/evening sun~It will lean toward the sun if it's too shady
Water Needs: Water well first year, does not like drought
Average Height: 3 ft. - 7 ft.
Average Spread: 1 ft. -3 ft.
Attracts: Butterflies, Bees and other pollinators
Native: Native to US and Canada.
Plant Hardiness Zone: 2 - 9
Propagation: Seed, cuttings, division. The florets produce wind-dispersed achenes (small dry seed with hair-like bristles).
How to use: A good looking plant for water's edge, the back of the border or if you're like me, right in the middle of your sunny border.  Looks great with tall native grasses, Rudbeckias, Ironweed, Solidagos and Coreopsis. Attractive fluffy seed heads persist well into winter.
Comments: If you are absolutely opposed to watering and have seriously dry summers, the Joes aren't for you.

Wildflower Wednesday is about sharing wildflowers all over this great big beautiful world. It doesn't matter if we sometimes show the same plants, how they grow and thrive in your garden is what matters most. I hope you join the celebration...It's always the fourth Wednesday of the month!

Thanks for stopping by to help celebrate wildflowers.



Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

One Of The Last Bees To Visit

Is the Metallic Green Bee.

Photographed last week swarming all over the Symphyotrichum praealtum 'Miss Bessie' and her offspring. It was a sunny warm day and the little bees and a few bumbles came out to nectar.

Regular readers might remember how very much I love Symphyotrichum praealtum. It's a wonderful very late blooming native Ex-aster that begins blooming in mid to late October just as the Little ex-asters are starting to fade and continues blooming through most of November.  All the pollinators adore this beauty, and by all, I mean every Bumble, tiny little fly, beetle, small bee or Skipper that's in the garden can be found nectaring on the sweet lilac-blue flowers from the time the sun moves past the canopy trees and warms up the garden, until it sets and everything cools off.

native bees are valued for the role in pollinating our wildflowers and food crops

But, I digress! Let's talk about the  Metallic Green Bee. Their busy as a bee manner makes me happy when ever I see them darting from flower to flower faster than I can click an infocus photo. But, I must be honest with you, there are several subfamilies and I cannot tell them apart. I am pretty sure my Metallic Green Bees are from the genus Agapostemon (a true native bees in the family Halictidae). They are small to medium sized bees that are often metallic in color. Some are communal, a dozen or more females may share a nest entrance, but underground each bee creates and cares for her own brood cells. They line the individual cells with water resistant chemicals and provision them with a pollen ball to feed the individual larvae. They are the among the most important and common visitors to prairie wildflowers, and are seen flying/nectaring about my garden for most of the growing season. (source)

Composite plants produce high quality nectar

Learning about native bees still greatly interests me. They're a diverse group, they come in a wide array of sizes, shapes, and colors, they have different seasons of activity, flower preferences and nesting requirements. One of the first things I discovered when I began researching bees was how well adapted they were for collecting and feeding on nectar (for energy) and pollen (protein). Their furry bodies are pollen magnets and their tongues are well adapted for seeking out nectar in the many different flower shapes.

Verbesina is perfect for short tongued bees

Speaking of bee's tongues! Bees are classified as either long or short tongued, based of course on the length of their proboscis (a kind of complex tongue). Bees with long tongues have the pick of the crop, they can nectar on most flowers, but bees with shorter tongues need short, open flowers with nectar within easy reach. The Metallic Green Bees have short tongues and favor Asteraceaes or composites, with its easily accessible and high quality nectar. (source)

They're floral generalists, meaning they will visit a wide range of flower types and species when seeking out pollen

Metallic Green Bees are floral generalists and keep busy in my garden from early spring to late fall. Just before the last big freeze they and the Bumbles were still nectaring on the native ex-asters, the Sheffield mums and the few Coreopsis still in bloom.

They will be out and about as long as the day warms up above 50F and there are blooms on the last remaining Willowleaf aster. On the whole, generalist bees, are more resilient and not dependent upon a particular flower's pollen to survive, as long as there are composites in bloom they will feed.

The females forage our gardens for nectar and pollen to feed herself and her offspring.

What they are dependent upon are gardeners like us to provide a well planned pollinator friendly garden.
It's quite easy to do, just...

• Plant more native plants, annual and perennial, known to attract your regional bees
• Make sure you have several different plants in bloom from early spring to late fall
• Provide shelter from the wind, rain, or cold
• Provide nesting spots~Soft and exposed soil, decaying logs, nesting boxes, build a pollinator condominium. (see here). Research what they need.
• Don't be in such a hurry to tidy up the garden or cover every piece of earth with mulch.
• Provide water.
• Never, ever, ever, ever, ever use pesticides. They're poisonous to pollinators.

October 2013

Now's the perfect time to begin planning for next year.
xoxogail


Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.