Butterflies on... Joe Pye Weed

13 years ago

I really enjoyed the previous "butterflies on" threads. This forum has so little activity lately that I'm hoping to resurrect these threads and see some more pictures to tide me over til spring. Joe Pye Weed is one of my favorite plants and the butterflies seem to agree.

Female Tiger Swallowtail

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Eastern Black Swallowtail

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Monarch

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My First & Only Common Buckeye

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Comments (6)

bob_71
13 years ago
EXCEPTIONAL PICTURES, MOLANIC!

Joe Pye weed begins to bloom in early July in my garden and is a big draw for butterflies and insects. The blooms dry well on the plant and provide extended beauty to the garden.

Bob

Joe Pye in full bloom
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Dried blooms still on the plant.
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Common Buckeyes were plentiful this year.
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Gray Hairstreaks are among the most populous of the small butterflies here.
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The Summer Azures are another of the small butterflies that are fairly frequent visitors.
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Tony G
13 years ago
Joe Pye weed was our garden "Dud" in 2010. There were plenty of bees on it but I didn't catch one butterfly on it all season.

Hopefully next year I can add a photo to this section. Nice photos Bob & Molanic
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I love that beautiful joepye weed, Missriss! Mary, it doesn't look like the same type as the local JPW - the local type is eupatorium fistulosum, it gets REAL tall, and it bends over with the weight of the blooms. The one is Missriss' picture looks shorter, plus I don't remember the stems being red/pink on the local type like hers. Also, the leaves on Missriss' JPW are more "crinkly" or "corrugated" and don't appear to be as big. I like her's a lot better than our locals - it looks much more garden worthy. Angie, as far as I know, there isn't any type of JPW that blooms more than once a year. Missriss, can you tell us what the name is of your JW? MissSherry
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molanic
Original Author
13 years ago
Bob, that buckeye picture is gorgeous! I'm hoping to attract some more this year, and am starting some host plants for them. That one in my picture was the only one I have ever seen and it was pretty worn and only stuck around for a few minutes. My joe pye weed here in zone 5 is in it's prime in mid-August. It even looks kind of pretty now with the snow stuck to all the little branches on the seed head.

I was hoping for some more posters with pictures, but it does seem like not many people are on here in the winter.
christie_sw_mo
13 years ago
Beautiful photos Molanic and Bob! I'm glad you started another thread Molanic. I Wish I had some photos to add.

I have Eupatorium 'Baby Joe', actually two of them, that I planted a few years ago and the butterflies ignore them. I should have just gotten the native type but Baby Joe was shorter.

Question - If someone says Joe Pye Weed, are they usually talking about eupatorium maculatum or eupatorium purpureum? Does anyone have both to compare which one butterflies like the most? Do you know which type you have above?
molanic
Original Author
13 years ago
Christie, I think from what I have seen joe pye weed is the common name for several of the pink flowered eupatorium species.

I have the eupatorium dubium 'little/baby joe' (that is what the black swallowtail and buckeye are on), and a much taller joe pye weed that I'm not sure what species it is. It is probably a good 7' tall and 4' wide clump, but was started from some little 1' cuttings/divisions I got at a garden club type plant sale and it was just labeled as joe pye weed. It is probably maculatum, maybe even a cultivar like 'Gateway'.

The butterflies seem to like both although the larger one is more popular just because of the size I think. They both were far more popular before I got some massive butterfly bushes that are now the butterfly hot spot in the yard. So if your joe pye wasn't popular it may just be because you have stuff they like even better :)
bob_71
13 years ago
Christie, I have Eupatorium fistulosum...I bought one from Shooting Star Nursery and one from Lazy SS Nursery. In addition, I bought one called "Sweet Joe Pye Weed" last year that was labeled as Eutrochium Purpureum and it came from Prairie Moon Nursery. It is still fairly small and I really can't give any results yet. It appears that there is some taxonomic bickering occurring since as I google, I find the name using Eutrochium in some cases and Eupatorium in others and they are, seemingly referring to the same plant. At this stage, the plant I purchased from Shooting Star is the best but it is also one year older than the next best.

Bob