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The Low-Maintenance Garden Flower Birds And Pollinators Love
By PEG ALOI
With its colorful pink-purple flowers, the robust Joe Pye weed attracts butterflies and hummingbirds. It’s suited to sun or partial shade and reaches heights of up to 8 feet.
Given its nectar-rich flowers and long growing season, it’s a popular choice for pollinator gardens. Keep in mind that it can be quite invasive, as it reseeds and spreads rapidly.
Of the three varieties, the Sweet Joe Pye weed is the most tolerant of shady and dry conditions. The hollow Joe Pye weed and spotted Joe Pye weed prefer moist, sunny locations.
The plant attracts honeybees, bumblebees, and leaf-cutters, along with butterflies, including monarchs, swallowtails, and skippers. Many moth caterpillars also use it as a host.
Due to the seeds’ high nutritional value, Joe Pye weed will draw American goldfinches, Carolina wrens, dark-eyed juncos, tufted titmice, and many other bird species to your garden.
These plants can reseed themselves, so be sure to pluck any unwanted seedlings as they spring up. You can also cut the young plants back in spring to prevent them getting too tall.
They can also spread outwards from their central clump. If these get large, the roots become thick and matted, so it’s best to divide the plants before they get out of hand.