I've had it in partial shade and it was fine, but too big so I moved it.
We went to full shade, but it greened terribly.
Then I moved it to full sun and it's a gorgeous, dark purple, but maybe due to late frost, it's growing more slowly.

It's TERRIBLY hot and dry here, so I have to keep an eye on it or it droops. However, it is taking the sun and I think I'll probably quit moving it.

It's never gotten taller than 4' or wider than 3-4'. The location you're talking about sounds more than perfect and similar to my first location. the color combination sounds really eye catching.

Yes, it responds to pinching, but you don't need to.

It dies back here.

Christine

I grew it in full sun in zone 5 and it was bushy, purple and nice-looking without pinching. Mine got to be about 3' by 3' but then I potted them up, brought them to NoVA and promptly murdered them. It seeded everywhere.

The replacements are now in full sun and taking it OK, though if I ever get the new shade bed dug, I'm going to move them there.

I have 2 that grow in a spot that is part sun and it gets bushy and full with dark purple leaves. No pinching or cutting back.
Then in August, they were covered with little, white flowers.
Really beautiful. I did notice that both plants tended to lean forward a bit...maybe to get more sun...don't know.
But, they are a nice addition to the garden and I look forward to the blooms in the Fall.

I'm beginning to consider them borderline weedy, sort of the prettier cousin of the common "boneset" eupatorium I have all over the yard. I have them in a west-facing spot that gets pretty much full sun from about 10am on, though they've seeded into slightly shadier nooks as well. I think the color is pretty similar in both sun and less sun, though the plant has a nicer form in sun. I only pinch the ones that have seeded into places where I want something shorter. Have I mentioned that they throw seed?? They seem to want a fair bit of water in sun, and if they didn't bloom so late in the year, when any bloom is a good bloom, I'd be kind of unimpressed by the flowers.

Your location sounds fine. They don't necessarily get all that wide, unless they start getting weak-stemmed and lax, and they don't seem to mind getting crowded by other plants.

Linnea, In my opinion, you have the perfect place for your plant.

I love this carefree plant and have had it in a number of light situations.

In my yard, the more sun it has, the more water it wants. It sort of reminds me of hydrangeas that wilt when they don't have enough water (or the doublefile viburnums). Once watered, the plant perks right back up!

Next summer, you will have lots of seedlings to share with your friends!

This plant is definitely one of my top 10 favorites. Good luck!

Maybe you've seen it already, but there is another thread about Eupatorium rugosum Chocolate on page 1 of this forum that has additional information (see link below).

Mine is in full sun, on the dry and sandy side. VERY windy and exposed location. I use mulch and give it a little extra water, but no more than the Phlox paniculata or Buddleia that is nearby. It's pretty rugged actually.

It gets about 3-4 feet tall x wide. I do not pinch it at all, and it grows in a naturally bushy habit.

Some people complain about this plant being weedy and self-sowing a lot, but I have never had even ONE seedling even though I don't deadhead this plant. I kind of wish it would seed a bit, I would like to plant more.

Here are a couple pics from last year (taken on October 9th). I also posted these on the other thread.

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Here is a link that might be useful: Chocolate joe pye weed

Linnea, you will love this plant in your zone. Mine is in full shade, and the foliage is gorgeous right now, deep maroon and green. In its third year, hasn't spread much at all, I'd be thrilled if it did. The spray of flowers in the fall is nothing short of brilliant as you can see in terrene's pics above. Interesting that one is in full sun and seems to behave the same way. I have to keep my eye on mine, too, though, in full shade its the first plant to wilt if it doesnt get enough water.

i have one thats a baby and had moved it to a sunnier spot. anyway, when i dug it up for some reason i decided to sniff the leaves and to me they seem to have a hint of dark chocolate or a cocoa smell to them. anyone else experience this or am i coo coo? i thought the name was for the color of the leaves.

It doesn't seem possible that 6 years has passed since this thread! Yesterday I went back to the old house in Whitby to rescue this very same Chocolate Joe, which is now in its 9th year. It had been neglected by the new owners and so I dug it out from thistles and ribbon grass, and am looking for a nice spot in the new yard.

Questions - the root ball is about 12-15 inches in diameter and the plant is 2 feet high. Can I split the root ball and make two plants out of it? How fussy is it? Is this a good time of year to do it?

I'm so excited to have it back again!!

This is a complete weed for me! it is taking over my garden - very light shade, good soil, average moisture. It has seeded everywhere, and I am pulling them up and getting rid of them all. I envy you all for whom it is well behaved, it is lovely, but, beware...

Since this post I am now up to 5 or 6 of these plants, and the ones in the back yard are making seedlings. I think they might be cross-pollinating with the green Eupatorium rugosum which is growing prolifically in the back yard, and some seedlings have more color than others. Yes the species is very weedy!

Pam I just moved one of them about 2 weeks ago. We've had a lot of rain and it's been somewhat cool so it has done fine with the transplant, but I didn't divide it, just took a big root ball. It's a pretty rugged plant but if you're having hot and sunny weather you could shade it for a few days.

Wow Terrene, so yours did start to seed, as you wished for! Have you kept them all in the sun? Mine was in complete shade until the new house owner cut down a tree so it was in the sun for the last year. When I lived there it was in complete shade. The spot I'm thinking of is mostly shade, and gets sun in the morning. I think I'll just plant it instead of dividing.. it's taken me 5 years to get it back so I'd hate for something bad to happen after all this!

Love It/Hate It - I love the look of this plant. The dark foliage is really quite striking (darker in more sun) and the white flowers are very pretty. I SOOO wish I could keep growing it in my gardens. However, as others have mentioned, in some gardens it can be very, very, very weedy. For me it self-sowed everywhere! And, I haven't allowed it to flower and reseed for a few years now, but I still find seedlings. And one of the problems is that they can be very difficult to pull. In my gardens, the root systems on even very small seedlings of this plant are very, very difficult to pull out. They have to be very carefully dug out. It's a drag. I admire you who can successfully grow this beauty without it becoming a beast!

Hi Pam, yes the ones in the backyard are reseeding, but the 3 in the front yard still don't make any seedlings. So I think they're cross pollinating with the green species that are very weedy in the way back (a wild garden)! Some of the seedlings have good color, but there are so many green seedlings I've taken to mowing them down where I don't want them. The upside is that the white haze of blooms is very pretty, esp. in shade.

Most of mine are growing in part sun and they do great. I don't have much full sun in the gardens and the sunniest spots are where I grow the butterfly annuals and a few veggies.

Here it bloomed once or twice in all those years I have had it, for 1 or 2 days before the frost killed it. So no reseeding here. I use it as a foliage plant , it colours best in full sun.

I am delighted that my chocolate eupatorium is flowering beautifully. I live in very hot and dry Adelaide in South Australia a Mediterranean climate and zone 10-11. I wonder if it will self seed here! We have just gone into our second month of autumn.