Hi Sherry, You won't hear me complain about the rain...bring it! Within reason, of course :-) Recall how dry it was last year / summer? We had a 4" deficit as of two, three weeks ago. I can see that all of the plants, grass, trees (inc. my blueberries) are much happier now. Liatris peaked last week, it suffered a bit from the dry heat. I planted a cover crop in the veggie garden using buckwheat for the first time and it drew gillions of pollinators while flowering! Later, Ron

I might try taking a piece of the clump - a piece that looks healthy, perhaps from the edge of the clump - and planting it somewhere to create a new clump. This will provide insurance in case the first clump dies. I think you would bee marks if rodents were chewing on the stems, but if they are eating the roots it might be less noticeable. I have not had similar problems. If the plants are growing TOO well then they might be tipping because they have gotten too tall to hold themselves up. This is common with many types of wildflowers grown in the garden Fertilizer and water make them grow too lush and they tip over. You could cut all stems back to about 2 or 3 feet and they should regrow and still bloom, although cutting them at this time of the year would surely delay the bloom.

I had a similar experience. It spreads vegetatively and also by seed quite vigorously in my garden so I totally got rid of it. ( . . . and I have a fair amount of area in garden, but it was just way too vigorous !) Here's what I did: I dug up all the big and small chunks I could with a sharp shovel (You can move a chunk or two to where you want it if you want to keep some.) Then kill whatever is left by religiously breaking off every sprout as it comes up. It's a nice morning coffee kind of activity if you don't mind a little mud in the morning. It only took me about a season and a half to get it all gone, much quicker than the valerian or goose-necked loosestrife, two other conquer-the-garden type of plants. It only took a very few minutes a week, but you can't let it go for long or it will start building strength again. Best wishes! (Wouldn't it be nice if nurseries warned us before we got into trouble with plants like these?)

Possibly if you explain to DH that Goldenrod and Ragweed grow in similar conditions and at the same time of year but that it is only the ragweed that causes the allergies , he will relent and allow some goldenrod with your Joe Pye. A fried gave me a JPW plant about the same size as your photo a few years ago. I planted it in dry but fertile soil behind a rock and in full sun and it became huge....the standing joke among friends is that I keep my JPW on steroids. If you go to my page and click on my webpage site you can view it . It is pic 83103 and it is to the far right. Had to move the plant ....blocked too much view. Good luck with yours. Kareen