Joe Pye weed 'Gateway'
Eutrochium maculatum 'Gateway' · Asteraceae
Huge domes of dusky pink flowers on wine-red stems tower over the late-summer border and are covered in butterflies. It needs moist soil and plenty of room.
- Size
- 6 ft tall, 3 ft wide
- Zones
- 4 to 8
- Light
- Full sun to part sun
- Flowers
- Late July to mid September
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Specimen
A bed built around Joe Pye weed 'Gateway'
The planner designed this bed around Joe Pye weed 'Gateway' 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 'Gateway' stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Joe Pye weed 'Gateway' × 1, pink
- 2 Mouse-ear coreopsis 'Nana' × 19, yellow
- 3 Winter heath × 6, white
- 4 False sunflower 'Summer Sun' × 3, yellow
- 5 Italian bugloss 'Dropmore' × 3, blue
- 6 Spurge 'Chameleon' × 3, purple leaves
- 7 Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' × 4, purple
- 8 Snowdrop × 8, white
Why this plant
- The only bold leaves here. The rest are medium and fine. A change of leaf keeps plants distinct when nothing is in flower.
- The only flat plates. The others are daisies, bells, airy sprays and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
- The only pink.
Why here
- Anchors a back corner. At 6 ft it is the tallest plant 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 false sunflower 'Summer Sun' (3½ ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- One plant, alone. A feature plant is seen as an object, and needs clear ground around it.
Why now
- In flower for 8 weeks. From late July to mid September.
- Closes the season. In its last week nothing else on the plan is in flower.
Planned as an English border: 8 of the 9 groups (89%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. Cool colours (pink, blue and purple) with yellow as the warm note, and white to calm things between them. The flowering year starts with winter heath in late January and ends with Joe Pye weed 'Gateway' in mid September.
The planner's own design check: 12 Excellent, 4 Good, 1 Satisfactory. 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 'Gateway' goes in a border
At 6 ft it belongs at the back of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is very tall (5 to 6½ ft).
Its job: specimen. A feature plant with a shape of its own. It stands alone with room around it, and repeats only at a distance.
A big plant for a big space: it gives the back of a border real height in late summer and stands as a dark skeleton through winter. It is too tall for a narrow bed, where it would loom over everything in front.
- Height and mass at the back of a large border
- Damp soil, rain gardens and pond edges
- Butterfly gardens
What to plant with Joe Pye weed 'Gateway'
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Bee balm: in flower together for three weeks, from late July; medium leaves against its bold ones; low enough (3 ft) to stand in front of it.
- Garden phlox: in flower together for seven weeks, from late July; medium leaves against its bold ones; low enough (3½ ft) to stand in front of it.
- Feather reed grass 'Karl Foerster': in flower together for eight weeks, from late July; fine leaves against its bold ones; happy in the same moist soil.
Questions about Joe Pye weed 'Gateway'
Does Joe Pye weed 'Gateway' need sun or shade?
Joe Pye weed 'Gateway' 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, rich in organic matter, and plenty of water. It copes with soil that stays wet.
What zones does Joe Pye weed 'Gateway' grow in?
USDA zones 4 to 8. It is hardy to zone 4, which means it survives winter nights down to about −20 °F (−29 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does Joe Pye weed 'Gateway' 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 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 |
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 'Gateway' be planted?
3 ft (90 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is about its full width, so each plant keeps its own outline.
It grows 6 ft (180 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many Joe Pye weed 'Gateway' plants do I need?
At 3 ft apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 1 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 4 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 4 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as one, with clear ground around it: a feature plant is seen as an object, and a group of them is a thicket.
In the bed above, the planner used one in one group.
Is Joe Pye weed 'Gateway' 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 'Gateway'?
Mostly not. NC State lists it as resistant to deer and rabbits. 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 'Gateway'?
Joe Pye weed 'Gateway' 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.
- New England aster: from early September to mid October, 4 ft tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Montauk daisy: from mid September to late October, 3 ft tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
What does Joe Pye weed 'Gateway' look like in winter?
Joe Pye weed 'Gateway' 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 'Gateway' good for bees and butterflies?
Joe Pye weed 'Gateway' is visited by pollinators, bees, 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 'Little Joe' Eutrochium dubium 'Little Joe'
- Joe-Pye weed 'Baby Joe' Eutrochium dubium 'Baby Joe'
- Spotted Joe-Pye weed Eutrochium maculatum
- Sweet Joe Pye weed Eutrochium purpureum
In these guides
- Plants for wet soil and rain gardens
- Deer-resistant perennials for full sun
- Rabbit-resistant plants
- Pet-safe plants for a sunny border
- Native perennials for pollinators
- Garden plants native to Canada
- Plants for butterflies
- Plants for bees
- Plants that feed garden birds
- Tall perennials and grasses for the back of a border
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 6 ft (180 cm) tall, 3 ft (90 cm) wide
- Plant
- 3 ft (90 cm) apart
- Height class
- Very tall (5 to 6½ ft)
- Place in the bed
- Back
- Flowers
- Late July to mid September; flat plates; pink
- Leaves
- Bold texture, herbaceous; green
- Shape
- Upright, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 4 to 8
- Light
- Full sun, part sun
- Soil
- Rich, evenly moist
- Water
- High
- Feeding
- Light, in spring
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Comes from
- Eastern North America
- Attracts
- Pollinators, bees, butterflies, songbirds
- Stands up to
- Deer, rabbits, 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.