Joe Pye is looking extra handsome this year with all the rain.

I’m very pleased with this totally unplanned ensemble of Joe, Verbena bonariensis and Hopi-Dye Amaranth- the latter 2 seeded themselves. Notice the Russian sage foliage in the foreground. I love this plant but but am at odds with them since in my garden they never seem to have the space they need to hold their  their branches erect. This one looks better than my others, which look knotted up, cramped and just plain unattractive. I have resorted to either shearing these down multiple times or ripping them out entirely.  They don’t respond well to my tendency to plant things too close together. While we’re on that topic, last year I planted a shrub a little too close to Joe Pye. It didn’t take long for me to realize that this would soon become problematic. My gardening friend Shelby suggested I move the shrub and not even think about trying to dig up Joe. This spring it was apparent that Joe wanted to swallow that shrub alive. I couldn’t believe how he had increased. There were 2 huge distinctly separate clumps of him cornering the poor shrub. I didn’t remember planting 2 Joe Pyes- but then again I don’t remember planting a lot of things. Could a single Joe Pye plant do that? I still haven’t taken any real action (not surprising to those who know me). But for kicks I did slice off a few small pieces of Joe with a sharp spade, which felt like trying to dig into compacted gravel. I replanted these pieces in my new bed, which needs spreaders like Joe to cover the ground. They are now blooming away happily, just not as tall as big Joe since they were transplanted. I would never want to attempt to dig up big Joe entirely.

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