Joe Pye weed ( Eupatorium purpureum ) is found throughout the central and eastern United States in Zones 5 to 9 . The flora is a perennial herbaceous plant . It easily arise up to 7 feet in height with a 3 - foot spread . Pink , fragrant 8 - inch bloom corymb begin to come along in July that are favor by butterfly and bees . The plant ’s root organisation is democratic when crushed and used as a diuretic tea . The plant receive its name from a New England aesculapian mankind who used the antecedent to process typhus fever , fit in to Kansas State University .
Fibrous Roots
The plant thrives in moist to wet dirt shape where it grows an abundance of fibrous roots that often form rhizomes . rootstock are large , sarcoid horizontal root word that grow tiny feeder roots off the declamatory rhizome . The tooth root of the Joe Pye green goddess are a purplish colouring with fleshy cream colors in spite of appearance . They are comparatively shallow and commonly grow no deep then a foot but have a very large and divers pass around wont .
Colony Production
The rhizomatous ancestor form large settlement of the plant in their vast horizontal spread . They can easily be dug up and transplanted to new locations . The plant also propagates by seeds which are widely circulate by the current of air . Seeds will germinate when the temperature is above 55 degrees Fahrenheit . Germination occurs 30 to 90 days after planting . The seeds do require a three - calendar month inhuman social stratification with a temperature of around 40 degrees Fahrenheit prior to planting .
Winter Dormancy
The plant collects nutrients and shop water within its rhizomatous roots . When the ground freezes and winter go far , the flora ’s top growth dies back but the roots assert the plant ’s ongoing animation during the stale months . When natural spring make it , new top increment erupt from the root system .
Root Harvest
The roots of the Joe Pye weed are glean in the winter to be used in legion herbal medication and afternoon tea which are widely believed to do by kidney problem , menstrual soreness , reduce fever and attention in childbirth . The root of the plant are easily dug up using a power shovel . The top growth is discarded in the autumn and only the roots are used . During the spring months the new foliage is often harvested and used in medicative tinctures .
Container Growth
The Joe Pye weed is often successfully grown as a container flora . The base organisation must be preserve constantly damp . If the sinewy roots are permit to dry out out in a container in the red-hot summertime month , the flora will well perish . When grow as a container industrial plant the Joe Pye weed grows only to a height of 2 to 4 feet .
