Joe-Pye Weed

All the way from my house in the mountains, all along the twisty US 276 up and down the mountain to Brevard, I saw lovely stalks of Joe-Pye Weed in their lavender-mauve bloom, thousands of them. I was disappointed, therefore, to see none, not one, growing in my meadow this year. So much else was there—bright yellow evening primrose, purple thistle, orange jewelweed, purple ironweed, and common milkweed.

Besides its beauty, Joe-Pye Weed is a native plant that attracts at least 33 different species of moths and butterflies. It also has several medicinal uses. It can be used as a diuretic, to ease joint stiffness, and also to regulate blood sugar levels. It is named after a respected Mohican sachem who lived in what is now called New York around in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His real name was Joseph Shauquethqueat; he was an herbalist and, one suspects, used this plant for medicinal purposes. You can read more about him here.

I could see a few Joe-Pye Weed plants from my kitchen window, up the hill a bit, just over the property line. I climbed up to take photographs. I snipped a few flower heads that I’m going to use for seeds for next year. I’ll tell my neighbor when I see her next. I know she won’t mind if I spread the beauty.

I spent a couple of days pulling out the rest of the woodland lettuce stalks that had grown taller and thicker since my last visit to the mountains. There still must have been hundreds of them. I was so relieved to be done with it. I could feel the meadow exhale. The next day, dozens of milkweed plants stood up tall. Yellow and brown butterflies were floating everywhere.