USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 4a-8b (3-9?)  Find Your Zone

Plant Type:  Herbaceous Perennial

Flower Color:  Dusky Pinkish Purple to Mauve

Flower Size: 12-18' diameter clusters!

Flowering Period:  June to September

Flower Type:  Single

Fragrant Flowers:  Yes, vanilla scented

Foliage Color:  Dark Green leaves with Dark Purple stems

Fragrant Foliage:  No

Berries:  No

Berry Color:  No

Attracts:  Butterflies, Beneficial Pollinators, Hummingbirds, Visual Attention

Resistances:  Deer, Disease, Insect, Wet Soil

The largest of the North American native Joe Pye Weeds, it's no wonder why this one is often called the Queen of the Prairie. Also commonly know as Hollow Joe Pye Weed, it does have a dark purple mostly hollow central stem clothed in whorls of large, 12 inch long dark green leaves that contrast wonderfully pretty flowers. From mid summer to early fall, vanilla-scented, soft pinkish-purple flowers in large, domed, compound inflorescenses from 12 to 18 inches in diameter are perched atop the stems. The butterflies and other beneficial pollinators will thank you for planting this one. The flowers give way to attractive seed heads which persist well into winter. In the wild, you might see this species growing in wet sand prairies, seeps, soggy thickets and on shorelines, but it is equally at home in the sunny to partially shaded perennial garden or woodland border.

The flowers are visited by honeybees, bumblebees, and other long-tongued bees. Butterflies, skippers, moths also visit the flowers. Deer and rabbits typically turn their nose up to this plant due to its bitter taste.

Growing 5 to 6 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide, this Joe Pye Weed is ideal for use as a specimen or in groupings in perennial borders or behind low growing shrubs in landscape borders. Also excellent in the moist soils around ponds, streams or lakes and in any sunny location where the soil tends to stay damp to moist. A fine addition to butterfly gardens, purple theme gardens and bog and meadow gardens.

Suggested Spacing:  3 feet apart for groupings;  8' or more apart for space between plants

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