Jolly's Giant New York Ironweed. Friends of mine, Dean Jolly and Bob McCartney found this plant on one of their wild wood exploits where it was so large that it was blocking their way on a country road. Dean was so impressed with it that he pulled up a plant and brought me cuttings. Since all of ours are grown from cuttings from the original plant that Dean collected, I just named this clone after Dean. Even in a 3 quart pot, this plant has flowered at 8 feet tall. Its deep purple flowers open mostly in late August through October here in zone 8, and I have always been intrigued by its gargantuan proportions for a herbaceous perennial. Another friend of mine, Clark Boyd, is quite an accomplished photographer, and he was traveling in North Carolina a few weeks ago and at church the following Sunday he showed me several pictures that he had taken of an elk feeding in a stand of this species. You will see the pictures below. I was surprised to see elk in North Carolina, but they are being re-introduced into the state. Grow this species in full sun to part shade and just wait for its impressive display beginning in late summer. The range of this species is very extensive over much of the eastern U. S. The genus name honors William Vernon (d. c. 1711), English botanist who collected in Maryland in 1698. The species name means "of New York." This is why it is often referred to as "New York Ironweed."
Zones 5-9
