Spotted Joe-Pye Weed

Eutrochium fistulosum

Hollow Joe-Pye Weed is the tallest of the genus and one of the most architecturally impressive native plants you can grow. The sturdy, hollow purple-spotted stems (the source of its common name) can reach eight feet in good moist soil, topped with massive domed clusters of dusty pink flowers that are visible from a distance and swarming with butterflies in August. The purple spotting on the stems is ornamental in its own right. no other native has quite that combination of height, stem color, and flower massing. It's an authentic moist-site plant, preferring stream margins, rain gardens, and low wet spots where it can fully express its height. Use it as a back-of-border anchor or a screening element in a large naturalistic planting. The combination of its height, monarch attraction, and late-season interest makes it one of the most ecologically productive native plants per square foot of garden space.