Hollow Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium fistulosum) - pink flowers, illustrated plant cardIllustration

Hollow Joe Pye Weed

Eutrochium fistulosum

Also called trumpetweed, purple thoroughwort and tall joe pye weed

Also comes in purple.

Hollow Joe Pye Weed blooms from July through September.

Bloom calendar
Bloom time
Jul–Sep
checked
Hardiness
Zones 4–8
checked
Sun
Full sun
checked
Water
Moderate water
checked
Mature size
6 ft × 3 ft
checked
Type
Perennial
house classification

Months here are Northern Hemisphere months; in the Southern Hemisphere, shift them by six months.

Growing Hollow Joe Pye Weed

Plant it in full sun. It prefers moderate water. It is hardy in USDA zones 4–8. Expect it to reach about 6 ft tall and 3 ft wide at maturity, in roughly 2 years (a house reading).

Pets

  • Not yet checked for pets.

Lists differ and none is complete. If a pet eats a plant and seems unwell, call a veterinarian or a pet poison helpline.

No toxicity note is on file for Hollow Joe Pye Weed. That is not a clearance: check its safety for people and pets before planting.

Verification
What was checked

Nine facts were checked against named botanical sources, each recorded beside the sources that carried it: mature height and spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color, the trait tags, and years to mature size, which rests on a recorded house rule where no publisher states one and is marked so. Soil, diseases, pests, toxicity and the plant's own names have not yet been read for this plant, and its trait tags are the ones a feature uses rather than every word a page prints. Each fact above carries its own mark. The planting, spacing and size sections are derived from these checked facts by a fixed rule, not checked separately, and the plant type is the library's own classification.

See the 11 sources it was checked against

When to plant Hollow Joe Pye Weed

Plant Hollow Joe Pye Weed in early spring as soon as the soil is workable, or in early fall at least six weeks before your first frost, so roots establish in cool weather. In zone 6, the middle of its hardy zones 4 to 8, spring means March to May and fall means August or September. Once settled, it blooms from July to September.

Month-by-month timing for your zone is on the planting calendar; if you garden near zone 6, the middle of this plant's hardy range, start with zone 6 in March. Derived from the plant's category, zones and bloom months plus typical zone frost dates, not checked separately.

How big does Hollow Joe Pye Weed get?

Illustration of Hollow Joe Pye Weed drawn to scale beside an adult6 fttall5 ft 7 inan adult3 ftwide
About 6 ft tall and 3 ft wide at maturity: about as tall as an adult.

See Hollow Joe Pye Weed in a garden plan: the planner shows it in 3D beside everything else you add, growing toward this size over the years.

How far apart to plant Hollow Joe Pye Weed

Derived from the mature spread above by a fixed rule, not checked separately: spacing is the spread, center to center.

Space Hollow Joe Pye Weed about 3 ft apart, center to center, so each plant has room to reach its full width.

Plant them
3 ft apart
Per 10 sq ft
about 1
4 by 8 ft bed
about 2

Add Hollow Joe Pye Weed to a garden plan and the planner draws it at its full width, so you see the spacing before you buy.

Where these facts come from

Hollow Joe Pye Weed's height, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color and trait tags were checked against 11 published sources on October 23, 2026. Each one is linked below with every fact it carried, which can include a fact this page still marks as not yet checked, because a source carrying a value is not the same as the value being held to the standard. Facts not in that list, and the planting, spacing and size sections, are not covered by these sources.

How the checking works, and what each standard covers, is on the verified plants page.

Where it grows wild

Native to 29 states

United States: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and 17 more

Recorded growing wild in 666 counties.

Range data from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 4.0, adapted) and USDA PLANTS. How the native range is credited.

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Drop this plant onto a 3D plan, see how it fills in, and watch your whole garden bloom across the year.

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