Hi Ginger, I'm interested in your Choclate Joe pye Weed and Cherry Profusion Zinnias. I have Chocolate MG (only 6 seeds though) or you can take a look at my trade page. It's mostly updated. Melissa

I've been growing it for several years, ever since I read a glowing description in the White Flower Farm catalog. Here (technically, we are now zone 7) it is a rampant pest. It seems to grow just about anywhere - sun, shade, dry or otherwise. In sunny dry areas, it wilts badly every afternoon but perks right up when the heat of the day is over. Most of my soil is well-draining, slightly sandy, so I can't comment on damp sites. How wet is "wet in spring" - does that imply a non-draining area, that's sort of boggy? If you lose, it next spring, let me know and I'll send you a couple hundred replacements.

I'd actually prefer it to not bloom, not because of appearance (which for me was beautiful - bright white and very full) but because of the potential for it to become invasive. I purchased four plants from a garden center last year, and the same season I planted it, it grew to over 3 feet, with profuse blooming in the fall (small flowers but millions of them.) Unfortunately, I had rather stupidly planted it as a foundation plant for the front of my house. It looked GORGEOUS in between dwarf boxwoods (as foliage, or as a blooming plant), but of course it dies down to nothing, and is then unusually slow to come up in the spring, so I had big empty spots in spring. I also read more and more about how much it self-sows... it is supposedly not much of a problem in the first couple years, but then becomes a big problem a few years down the line. I mulch the foundation area carefully, but I was worried about it spreading elsewhere. There are so many flowers that it's impossible to remove them before they go to seed.... not a problem if you're planting it in a wild setting or a "wild garden" setting, but a problem for a more formal area. This spring, when they finally began to come up (June before there was anything significant), I ended up digging them up and replacing them with dwarf azalea with white flowers - it's actually a similar look, but evergreen, which is important for me with harsh NH winters. Unfortunately the flowers come in late spring rather than fall, though. I enjoyed the show last fall. While I don't THINK I got "volunteer" seedlings from the Eupatorium I had planted, I *did* get seedlings from something else (wild Joe Pye?) which made its way into my yard. Whatever it is is clearly invasive and very difficult to remove, and is ALL over. The leaves are a lighter green, which is why I assume it has nothing to do with the "chocolate" plant I planted. But, the problem with what I assume to be wild Joe Pye also scared me enough to make me not only dig up the "chocolate" but discard it rather than replanting elsewhere.

That's good to know! I have one in my back garden and love it. I would think it would reseed? No weeds are showing in that garden right now, and I did let the CJP go to seed last year, so I think I'll leave things alone and see if any babies come up. It would be nice. The mama plant is just starting to break ground as is the 'big other one' with green leaves and reddish flowers.