Little Joe Joe Pye Weed

Light Needs

Partial Shade to Partial Sun

(3 - 6 Hours Of Direct Sunlight)

Mature Height

3-4 Feet

Mature Spread

3-4 Feet

Growing Zones

4 to 8

The name of Little Joe Pye Weed gives too little credit to its giant impact in the garden, especially for butterflies. Known botanically as Eupatorium dubium ‘Little Joe’, this dwarf form of native Joe Pye Weed will delight pollinators and people from midsummer to late summer with domes of pinkish-mauve flower buds atop multiple stems. The domed flowers attract butterflies and offer them a place to land. 

The dwarf plant’s flowers and pretty green foliage reach about 3 feet high and 2 feet wide. It is perennial in zones 4 through 8, and even looks good in winter if you leave the seed heads on (the birds will thank you). As a native plant, it naturalizes in the garden and will multiply, popping up again in spring. All this for you and the butterflies with little effort. Like most natives, this is an easy-care plant.

Little Joe Pye Weed Care

Place your Little Joe in nearly any soil type where it can maintain some moisture. It’s a great plant for placing along the sides of ponds, riverbeds, or in rain gardens. Give it full or partial sun, so a minimum of 4 hours a day of sunlight. It needs a little more water than some native plants, but mulching around its base after planting will help keep the ground around it moist. Water it well after planting and regularly throughout the season. It does not like to dry out.

Remove spent flowers early in the season to encourage more blooms, and feel free to leave those flowers appearing around September alone for birds to enjoy the seeds. Give it a light dose of natural fertilizer in the fall to feed it over winter. Cut back old growth in early spring.

Little Joe Pye Weed Spacing

For a mass planting or butterfly border, plant several Little Joe Pye Weeds together, spacing them about 2 feet apart so they each have room to grow.