Eupatorium winter kill?

12 years ago

I've had a eupatorium 'Gateway' in the back of my garden for years.

Over the past 5 years or so, many eupatoriums have been growing on the commons behind me. Last year there were probably 10 huge, beautiful clumps and many smaller ones. I'm not sure if they're 'maculatum' or 'purpureum'.

Toward the end of last summer, I ended up buying about 5 big pots of eupatorium to fill in an area at the back of my yard and transition into the commons. One pot was a species that the grower happened to have (that's what she called it), and the rest were 'Gateway'.

This year, my age-old plant came up, along with the species plant. The rest look dead for the most part, although I've recently noticed a couple weak-looking sprouts. I thought it was because they were recently planted and didn't have time to establish before this brutal winter.

I went down to check out the plants on the commons area, and they don't seem to be growing either. (It's a little harder to tell because they're in a high-weed area. But if there's growth, it's very minimal.)

I kind of thought old Joe Pye was bulletproof - hey, his last name is "Weed!" Technically this is zone 6a, but we're low and seem to have a colder micro climate, so I use zone 5.

Has anyone else had an issue with their eupatoriums this year?

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Comments (4)

shadeyplace
12 years ago
I am in zone 7 and mine are just beginning to come up. I would wait a bit.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
12 years ago
i didnt know joe pie grew in MI ... apparently it doesnt in my z5 MI ... or somewhere over the last 4 decades.. i would have owned one ... which makes me think.. you have probably been bordering on z6 ...

and i easily had a z4 MI winter ... and you probably did also ruth ... and apparently you cant make pie in z4 with joe ...

i dont know about the whole end of season bargain deal... you dont say anything about how you planted them.. etc ... said purchases are always a roll of the dice ....

ken
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FrozeBudd_z3/4
12 years ago
'Gateway' planted in the open ground is always pokey to appear in my cold zone 3, though has been very reliable. I recall one winter with scant snow cover and temps that had plummeted to -40 F and I had thought I had lost good ole Joe, as all eyes near the surface had been killed and the plant had needed to flush out from deeper below. He was slow and not at all vigorous that summer, though was back to his normal self the following year.

I WISH there was a variegated 'Gateway' !!!
Ruth_MI
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for all of the feedback. The ones I planted were good-sized and weren't end-of-season clearance plants, but were still planted after mid-summer so probably didn't have time to establish well.

I won't give up hope on those that haven't sprouted yet, and for those that have just a couple tiny stems, I'll hope for a better year next year!