Category Archives: Flower Gardens

Bugleweed is another name for the easy to grow ground cover Ajuga.  It loves full sun unless you live in a very hot and dry climate, then plant it in the shade and full shade is just fine! The foliage will tend to grow smaller in full sun, but will produce more flower spikes then in shade. Ajuga tolerates clay soil that is dry or moist and a wide soil pH range as well.  It’s a semi-evergreen perennial, plus Ajuga is easy to propagate.  It’s hardy in zones 3 to 9.  So why not plant it?

Growing up, my mother planted ‘Bronze Beauty’ bugleweed all over the yard and now I know why…It did fantastic in that hard compacted clay soil and needed little care.  Ajuga was never a favorite of mine until I found a few varieties that really hit the spot and now I find myself poking them in areas that need a little ground coverage to fill in and soften the look.  I’m now hooked!  I have my favorites though, Bronze Beauty not being top of my list however…Perhaps because it is so common and I like a little twist on things.  Top favorite is ‘Black Scallop’.  It has dark, almost black, large succulent leaves that look like you could eat them.  The leaves stay glossy as well…even with our hard water!  But it really likes shade and stays beautiful in my HOT climate there.  Second Fav is ‘Burgundy Glow’. It has a variegated leaves with shades of greens, white and burgundy.  Truly a beautiful ground cover!  It will give you a little color splash in a shade garden.  ‘Chocolate Chip’ is a fun name for an Ajuga, but it’s more than that.  It has elongated leaves that are skinnier than others and it does have a chocolate color to it.

All these varieties do well in pots as a filler/spiller.  They will hang nicely over the edges in no time.  But keep Ajuga watered well in pots, as they are not as drought tolerant when grown in a pot as they are in the ground.  Ajuga will bloom from spring to summer, sending up flowers of blue, pink or white, depending on the variety.  Divide clumps in the spring or fall after two or three years.  Just find the new crowns around the mother plant and slice down between them lifting the dirt and roots together.  Share with a friend, neighbor or plant in a bare spot in the yard.  We have seen many lawns of Ajuga and people just mow them like a regular ole’ lawn in areas that may be hard to grow grass, such as under dense mulberry trees.   If non variegated foliage appears on variegated Ajuga, they should be removed to prevent the plant to reverting back to its original green form.  Adding a little compost and fertilize in the early spring is about all you need to get this easy ground cover off and running!

Years ago when we put up our first greenhouse, I wanted to start every herb I could get my hands on from seed. Joe-Pye Weed was agonizing. I could never get it to germinate. Perhaps the seed was old. Year after year I would buy more seed only to fail over and over. On one of our vacations we stopped at a small nursery in Moab Utah on the way home and there it was! Joe-Pye Weed! It was towering out its one gallon pot with its huge pink flower heads. I was in love and of course it come home with us along with many other plants from cute little nurseries on our travels…. And now that I have my specimen, I have no problems starting it from seed.

A little history; Joe-Pye Weeds botanical name is Eupatorium. It is also known as Boneset, Purple Boneset and Gravel Root. The King of Pontus, Mithridates Eupator discovered the use of this plant as a medicinal tonic and it was named after him, “Eupatorium”. Joe-Pye, its common name comes from the name of an Indian name Jopi who used it medicinally as well. It has been used to relief pain of the fever, break-bone fever, to fight typus, to dissolve kidney stones and an affective diuretic. Its quiet bitter to taste.

The roots are the parts used for making tinctures and can be harvested at anytime, but it’s best harvested in the late fall for the strongest qualities. Harvesting should be done after this perennial has been in the ground for two years.

Joe-Pye Weed is easily grown in full sun, moisture-retaining, but well drained soil. When grown in a shady spot it can get floppy. It is an excellent showy fall blooming plant that should be grown in the back of flower beds, reaching over six foot tall. It pairs beautifully with Snow on the Mountain and Goldenrod. Moderate fertility is enough to feed this awesome performer. Joe-Pye Weed does better when the soil isn’t allowed to dry out. It can be become rather scruffy and tattered looking if it doesn’t get enough water. It forms huge flower heads ranging from a light pink to a deeper rose-purple depending on the variety.

This plant is not flashy as a small immature plant in pots. We grow this every year for our nursery and most people snub it off. Perhaps it’s the name that has “weed” in it that turns their noses, but come summer time and they see it in our demo herb bed, most everyone says with great excitement, “what is that plant?”.  It’s not a weed or invasive so even if you don’t have typhus or kidney stones, but have a sunny location, you might want to give Mr. Joe-Pye Weed a spot in your landscape!