It doesn't look like anything when it's dormant - I cut it down during fall clean-up.

And it's easy to move or divide.

And it's easy to move or divide. You should tell that to my plants. I had two in the front of the house and decided to take one out to offer at a plant sale last year knowing that the one remaining would create the effect I wanted. Keep in mind that mine grows to 9 feet - a stately plant to say the least.

In removing the second plant, we broke a shovel. The footing was 3 feet wide. I tried to divide the base with my trusty serrated garden knife but soon realized I was going to break that too. The one thing that did work was a saw. It was extremely woody and tough.

This plant was six years old.

Don't get me wrong... I LOVE this plant and would not be without. It has very few pests, disease resistant, great foliage, blooms late in the season which feed nectar loving insects including butterflies. Goldfinches will also 'hide' in the flower clusters when tropical storms pass through our area. Oh, and it can withstand the wind quite well.

It's a herbaceous perennial, meaning it has stems that will die back to the ground after hard frost. You will probably remove/compost those doing Fall cleanup. New growth will emerge from the roots in Spring.

When I bought my original plant, the nursery I was visiting that day had none potted and the owner went over to his own beds and cut out a hunk of roots with Spring growth points beginning to show, using a shovel. Looked easy enough but that had to have been one sharp shovel. My own experience in dividing them has been much like Tiffy's...IF I can get the rootball out, I'm lucky to get a few divisions using a ax :)

Yes, morz8, the ax was next on the agenda. :O)

Thanks everyone. I'm going to get this plant after all. It has so many fine attributes.

I think if I stay with a smaller version, Eupatorium purpureum Gateway 5 Tall x 2-3 Wide - is this accurate? - I should be okay.

And if I hear you all correctly, cut it down to the base during Fall cleanup. Placing straw around it may also help protect it during the Winter - yes?

Hinkley (former Heronswood) Eupatorium purpureum ssp. maculatum 'Gateway'....hardy to Z4. You should have no problem unprotected in a Z7 winter, you might even find a straw mulch creating slug habitat in winter rains.

While it may not reach full height until a couple of years established, 8' is more in keeping with two of the three clumps I have. You can expect it to exceed 2' in width after a few years too if it's happy...and it doesn't take a lot to make them happy :) It's a great no-fuss back of the border plant.

My Gateways got to be much taller than 5 foot within a couple of years. They were closer to 10 foot than 5 foot by year 6 or 7. I garden on very heavy wet clay soil. The Gateways made a very effective wall of plants, but were out of proportion to my other plantings. I had to start cutting them in half in mid to late June to keep them somewhat shorter, but they were still grew to be at least 5-6 foot tall. Unfortunately, if I cut them even a little later in the season, the blooms were much smaller too. Eventually I removed them (using Round-up because there was no other way to get them out of my heavy clay).

Wow, thanks guys. Guess it will be "Little Joe" for me.

Danell, I was reading the posts and was going to suggest 'Little Joe'. My 'Gateway' also gets to be about 8' but the 'Little Joe' plants I have never get above 5' or so. It's a great plant.

Okay now I know what it may look in dormancy and that little joe will be about 5 feet tall, but how wide? I only have about 2-3 feet, no more. Will it work?

I saw another variety on campus and will probably go back this winter to view it again. But how wide? Oh, I already asked that.

Did I ask how wide it would get?

I have Little Joe and it is 1 foot in diameter at the base after two years. It was planted as a bare root plant and it was small in size when planted. You should be OK with this one. :O)

My 'Little Joe' is about 3-4 years old and each spring the new shoots come up several inches away from the previous year's. It seems to be a slow spreader, so it may eventually get beyond it's three foot allotted space. Just warning you.
I didn't realize they were so hard (LOL) to dig up or divide. I have a 'Gateway' in my boulevard I want to donate to a plant sale next year. Fortunately it's only 2-3 years old or I might have had to resort to the dreaded "R" thing (Roundup). I had no idea they were that difficult. I had read about the various ironweeds being tough-rooted, but I have only had my (several) joe-pyes a few years. Thanks for the warning, everyone.

I have a few 'Little Joe' planted next to each other. They have been in for about 3-4 years and are only about 2' wide at the base.

These are great plants. However, last year was a very rainy summer and my 'Gateway' unexpectedly grew to 10 feet tall. This Spring, I decided to move it, because it looked like a giraffe in the middle of that bed. It had one of the woodiest crowns I have ever tried to divide - it was as bad or worse than a large Miscanthus. I concur with the other posters here - forget the shovel - try a spade, axe, or maul to divide!

Unless you have the space, Little Joe is a better choice.

Thanks everyone. This really helps a lot. (I'll be sure to put an ax on my Christmas list in three years, it should be time to divide little joe by then. Gads - LOL)