Is the issue that you want to remove the JP because it's too tall, too many bees, or both. I have to agree that it gets loaded with bees but I deadhead plants all around anything covered in bees and they really are quite docile. My taller JP was driving me crazy becuase I had to stake it from flopping over each year. So, a number of years ago I decided to start whacking back the taller late-summer fall bloomers like JP weed, ironweed, tall rudbeckias, etc...It works quite well. I'm not even careful about it. I just take shears and cut it down to about 2 1/2'. I'm not very scientific about it. I've found it works great to control the height. My JP that would normally be 8-9 feet gets to about 5'. Maybe next year you could experiment and try cutting it back early in the season to try to control the height? If it's a bee thing, then that's a whole other story. But I don't think there really is a substitute for joe pye's habit.

CLBlakey, I had no idea how toxic I was, until I did a search online!!! Since it was what the landscape designer suggested, I just wanted to check to see how it looked, then I found out that it was that toxic! WOW! Now, CLBlakey and Terry, tell me though, does Monkshood at least look good?! How tall did it get for you? Now, I am wrecking my brain, trying to think of something tall and good looking that will be perfect for that partial shade spot with moist soil behind the Incrediball hydrangeas... so far, JPW Gateway is still leading. How about bugbane (with the tall, dark leaves?) or Ligularia with those tall yellow spikes? Aruncus would have been perfect if the plumes were not white.... sigh! Any more suggestion would be very much appreciated!

I don't cut it back in the Spring, but I will clear away the dead stalks if I notice them. In all these years, I have never seen any seedlings; and this is the only wild Joe Pye I have. I have a small one I bought three years ago, I believe it's called "Chocolate Joe Pye"? Has deep purple/bronze foliage and white blooms. This year it is about 2 - 2.5' tall and about that big around. I saw three Monarchs just last evening down front, two of them battling it out, chasing and fluttering all around the redbud tree by the field. Probably one of the same in the courtyard garden this morning. How similar are the Viceroys? I was wondering if that is what I saw instead of Monarchs. For some reason I was thinking they have the same coloring but different markings?

I think you can snip the tips of the stems, perhaps more than once, as long as you do it early in the growing season. You surely won't kill the plant if you do it too much, you just might delay or even possibly eliminate blooming for the year. I say go ahead and experiment. I have seen Joe Pye Weed that apparently was cut sometime in the summer blooming a lot shorter than usual, so it is possible to make it bloom at a shorter height, I just am not exactly sure when you'd cut it back.