Nebraska Wildflowers Day 5 -- Joe Pye Weed

This is Nebraska wildflower week. Each day I’ll feature a native
wildflower that grows well for me in my fickle clay AND brings in
butterflies. Hopefully, you’ll find something you’ve never seen before.

To end the week, on Saturday, June 9 at 10am, I’ll be giving a presentation on Nebraska wildflowers at Finke Gardens and Nursery. And don’t forget, I do run a native prairie garden coaching business. Ahem.

Also, check out Bob Henrickson’s (NE Statewide Arboretum) fantastic advice on planting a mini prairie in your landscape.

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Eupatorium includes several species and tons of cultivars. If you’re a
native purist, the 6-8′ tall and 2′ wide E. purpureum will do you well.
They all will though. Insects and butterflies galore. In winter on
taller species birds love to perch and look for seeds, and in March you
can cut down the hollow stalks into 6″ long bundles, hang them on the
fence, and wham bam you have a native bee house (native bees are
solitary, super reluctant to sting, pollinate earlier than honeybees,
and pollinate far more blooms and crops than honeybees).

Two of my taller Joe Pyes–8-10′ front right, 7′ middle back

I think they smell awful, but butterflies disagree

White-blooming ‘Prairie Jewel’

E. coelestinum

I
have a joe pye weed that is 1′ tall, and one that is 10′ tall, and one
that has mottled cream and green leaves (‘Prairie Jewel’). Do some research and you’ll
find the perfect one.
They tend to like moist to medium clay and full sun, though again, I
have a taller variety in part sun that as a result gets a bit smaller
and blooms a bit less, but it still thrives.

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