Joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe'
Eutrochium dubium 'Baby Joe' · Asteraceae
A true dwarf Joe-Pye weed, waist high, with domed heads of magenta-pink on dark purple stems.
- Size
- 2½ ft tall, 24 in wide
- Zones
- 3 to 9
- Light
- Full sun to part sun
- Flowers
- Late July to mid September
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Drift
A bed built around joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe'
The planner designed this bed around joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe' when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 966 that suit those conditions, and says below why joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe' stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe' × 3, pink
- 2 Winter heath × 8, white
- 3 Mouse-ear coreopsis 'Nana' × 19, yellow
- 4 Garden phlox 'David' × 3, white
- 5 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 6 Meadow sage × 3, purple
- 7 Star of Persia × 3, purple
- 8 Autumn crocus × 12, lavender
Why this plant
- The only pink.
Why here
- Anchors a back corner. At 2½ ft it is one of the taller plants here, and the tallest close the ends of the bed, where they stand in front of nothing.
- A step in the back row. Next to meadow sage (24 in): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 3 plants in one group. Massed, one kind reads as a single shape. Scattered, it would look spotty.
Why now
- In flower for 8 weeks. From late July to mid September.
- Fills a gap. For one of those weeks nothing else on the plan is in flower.
Planned as an English border: 4 of the 6 groups (67%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. Low plants run along 93% of the front edge: silver sage, mouse-ear coreopsis 'Nana' and winter heath. There is more mouse-ear coreopsis 'Nana' than anything else, 19 plants in all.
The planner's own design check: 10 Excellent, 7 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe' goes in a border
At 2½ ft it belongs in the middle of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is medium tall (2½ to 3 ft).
Its job: drift. Planted in a small group of three or five, and repeated further along in the other number.
It brings a meadow giant down to the scale of a small garden with no loss of butterflies. Shorter still than 'Little Joe', and it stays upright in rain.
- Butterfly planting in a small garden
- The middle of a moist border
- Rain gardens
What to plant with joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe'
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Black-eyed Susan: purple against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, in flower together for eight weeks.
- Switchgrass 'Shenandoah': its green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after.
- Swamp milkweed: in flower together for three weeks, from late July; happy in the same moist soil.
Questions about joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe'
Does joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe' need sun or shade?
Joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe' grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day) and part sun (4 to 6 hours of sun, including some afternoon sun).
It wants soil that stays evenly moist, of average fertility, and a good soak in dry spells. It copes with soil that stays wet.
What zones does joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe' grow in?
USDA zones 3 to 9. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °C).
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe' flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late July to mid September. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 3 | Early August to mid September |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Early August to mid September |
| Zone 5 | Late July to mid September |
| Zone 6 | Late July to mid September |
| Zone 7 | Mid July to mid September |
| Zone 8 | Mid July to mid September |
| Zone 9 | Mid July to mid September |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe' be planted?
20 in (50 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 24 in (60 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 2½ ft (80 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe' plants do I need?
At 20 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 4 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 7 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 14 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as a group of three or five, with a second group further along in the other number.
In the bed above, the planner used three in one group.
Is joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe' poisonous to dogs and cats?
No toxicity is recorded for dogs, cats, horses or people, according to NC State Extension.
"Not toxic" is not "edible": a pet that eats a lot of any plant can be sick.
Do deer eat joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe'?
Mostly not. NC State lists it as resistant to deer. No plant is proof against a hungry deer in a hard winter, but this one is low on the menu.
What flowers after joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe'?
Joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe' is over by mid September. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Garden chrysanthemum: from mid September to late October, 24 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Blue-stemmed goldenrod: from early September to mid October, 2½ ft tall.
- Blue wood aster: from mid September to mid October, 3 ft tall.
What does joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe' look like in winter?
Joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe' dies down, but leave the stems standing: the seed heads stand through the winter, and songbirds eat the seed. Cut them down in early spring, before the new shoots come.
Is joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe' good for bees and butterflies?
Joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe' is visited by pollinators, butterflies and songbirds.
It is native to the United States and Canada (this is a named variety of the native plant).
More Eutrochium
- Hollow Joe-Pye weed Eutrochium fistulosum
- Joe Pye weed 'Gateway' Eutrochium maculatum 'Gateway'
- Joe Pye weed 'Little Joe' Eutrochium dubium 'Little Joe'
- Spotted Joe-Pye weed Eutrochium maculatum
- Sweet Joe Pye weed Eutrochium purpureum
In these guides
- Plants for wet soil and rain gardens
- Salt-tolerant plants for roadsides and coasts
- Deer-resistant perennials for full sun
- Pet-safe plants for a sunny border
- Native perennials for pollinators
- Garden plants native to Canada
- Plants for butterflies
- Plants that feed garden birds
Zone guides: Zone 3 · Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8 · Zone 9
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 2½ ft (80 cm) tall, 24 in (60 cm) wide
- Plant
- 20 in (50 cm) apart
- Height class
- Medium tall (2½ to 3 ft)
- Place in the bed
- Middle
- Flowers
- Late July to mid September; dense clusters; pink, purple
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; dark green
- Shape
- Upright, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 9
- Light
- Full sun, part sun
- Soil
- Average, evenly moist
- Water
- Moderate
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Comes from
- Eastern coastal plains and wetlands from Maine to South Carolina
- Attracts
- Pollinators, butterflies, songbirds
- Stands up to
- Deer, salt, wet soil
Checked against NC State Extension and VASCAN (plants of Canada). Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.