Plant · P-135

Joe Pye Weed

Eutrochium purpureum

Joe Pye Weed sends up vanilla-scented, dusty-pink flower domes from July through September, right as the summer's earlier bloomers fade out, and bees and native pollinators cover it. It wants consistently moist, even swampy ground, so it does best at the low end of a swale or a greywater outfall rather than a regular bed. Herbalists have long brewed the root as a diuretic for urinary complaints, though the plant offers almost nothing as food. The twist: this northeastern species tolerates heavy alkaline clay better than its own Texas-native relative, which needs acidic soil to survive.