your joe-pye-of-the-gods must be in a nice moist location. is it by a downspout? very impressive!

Wow! Will you keep it?

Did you have as much rain as we did here in New Jersey? Our area got about 12 inches in June. That would certainly help make a Joe Pye Weed happy. When it flowers it should make some high cruising butterflies happy, too. : D

I have some that are supposed to be short, but this year with the rain they are now six feet.

Has any one on this forum dug up and
divided J.P. weed. ? Thanks for any help

Paul, that is AWE and SOME!!!! WOW!!!!! :)

Hank, I have not personally divided Joe Pye but I think it's fairly easy to do in the fall when it has gone dormant. The reason I say this is that I bought some rootstock from someone who had obviously divided a big clump and each bit of root that I planted came up in the Spring and is growing vigourously so I say divide away!

The genus, Eupatorium, is well, lets just say vigorous...and quite hardy. I suspect any reasonable amount of care and it'd be fine.

hank2230- I am in the Akron area and I have divided Joe Pye weed in the spring and transplanted it in the garden. No issues, just make sure you dig deep and get some soil as well as the roots.

That doesn't look like Joe Pye to me. Maybe there's another plant-a lily perhaps?-right in front of it? The leaves are too long and narrow for any JPW I've ever seen.

I've got the purple-stemmed type up at my land. Even though in moist to saturated ground there, it only ever gets to maybe five ft. in height, if that. This picture may not be of purpurea, but even so, something about that foliage doesn't jibe.

+oM

I have dug up Joe Pye weed (wrong spot) and it was quite a workout. It has tough tenaceous roots that seemed quite large for a second year plant. I imagine something sharp to help divide would be in order.

My initial reaction was the same as tom's but it may just be that the leaves are so large and droopy. Any blooms yet?

JPs here are blooming....I'd think the OP should be in bloom or near.

This is really timely for me. I have-as mentioned-quite a lot of the Eupatorium purpurascens-type Joe Pye up in my very wet meadow. So wouldn't you know it-we're gradually building up that same area into our sit-around-the-fire area. I will never vanquish that whole meadow-it's far too valuable ecologically, let alone aesthetically, but at least a few clumps of Joe Pye will be getting moved. All in all, I've always considered such jobs to be springtime tasks. Here, I see some of you have moved this plant in the fall. I can do either, but just curious if anyone of you has strong feelings one way or the other as to efficacy. Thanks for any opinions offered.

+oM

Uh...make that E. purpureum. Still find it mildly surprising that the kind growing in my meadow stays so short. Purpureum is, if anything, typically even taller than other types. But mine stays right about 3-4 feet.

BTW, and yes, this is a bit OT, but I do sense that there really is something wrong with pollinating insects across the country, and perhaps on a worldwide basis. This very same meadow of which I speak was, just a few years ago, full of bees and butterflies this time of year. Not saying they're all gone, but something's going on. Not nearly as much activity. The very air itself used to be alive back there this time of year. On sat. I noticed only some type of black bee or pollinating fly on the blooms, albeit these were numerous, whatever they are.

+oM