I *just* started seeing the first bit of emergence from my chocolate eupatorium this week. Mine are several years old, so they may be ahead of yours because they're more established. Don't give up yet!

I'm in zone 5 Central Illinois and mine are a good 18 inches (maybe a bit taller) up now. Don't give up yet, but they should be showing signs of life soon if they survived. Watch for them, they will come up at first very dark and you'll barely notice them in the dirt.

Mine have been up at least 6 weeks.
Linda C

Here in my zone 4 garden my two chocolate Joe Pyes have just begun to emerge (one is 2 inches the other 5). They seem bo be the last plants to pop up. My Gateway has been up for a good month and is 2 ft tall and looking good.

Sandy

Mine in southern ontario are a good foot high and nice and bushy. The new one I planted in august last year didnt come back at all.

I'm planted it three different times and it's died each time. Won't be planting it the fourth....

Janet

Mine are about a foot tall.

how tall do your chocolates grow, i just bought one this year and the tag said up to 5ft, is this true or will it get bigger or smaller?

I have one Eupatorium rugosum Chocolate and I love it! The foliage is beautiful, and it is like a cloud of hazy white flowers in the early fall when it blooms. Also, it is an excellent late season source of nectar and pollen that attracts butterflies and all kinds of pollinators.

Mine is currently about 18" tall and it reaches about 3 - 4 feet tall by the time it blooms.

A couple pics from last year:

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In my land of late springs (mine are only about six inches tall right now), my chocolates grow to maybe four feet tall and three feet wide by autumn. But besides late springs we can have early frosts up here, which'll take 'em out prematurely. In a warmer climate, I've no doubt they'd reach five feet.

wow, it is beautiful! can't wait until mine matures. its in a bad spot right now, but i'm going to move it to where it will get more sun and will be placed next to my artemesia wormwood, where the silvery grey foliage will really make it look nice next to its darker foliage.

I just bought one of these today, so glad I found this thread and that great photo so now I know what it will look like!!

This is my favorite plant in my garden. I was hoping it would seed everywhere. I'm hoping to get more of these this year. I only have one. I had two others, but unfortunately they didn't make it. I grow mine in loam soil/ little clay soil. I get morning shade, and rest of the afternoon in sun.

Don't remember seeing Terrene's 'Chocolate'. What a striking plant!

The one below was planted about five years ago and hasn't got anywhere near that large.

The picture is October 15, 2013. Other than fall monkshood, various asters, a chrysanthemum and perhaps even the 'Nora Leigh' garden phlox (in Terrene's garden too?), it's just about the only thing left flowering in our garden.

I don't cut back the 'Nora Leigh' with the other garden phlox, since it doesn't seem very mildew prone and is still attractive when not in flower.

I haven't seen seeding with our 'Chocolate', Rouge.

Wow this thread was almost 7 years ago!

I still have that 'Chocolate' plant in the picture above, in the front garden. Also have since added 4 more Chocolates in the back garden as well as started the species from seed (Eupatorium rugosum). Although the plant in front has never made a seedling, many seedlings are spreading around in the back yard with variation in foliage coloring. The species itself with the regular green foliage is very weedy.

Yes, Sunny that is Phlox 'Nora Leigh', which have been divided and are still growing strong, although the voles did a number on them 3 winters ago, they are recovering.

How was it from seed, Terrene? Am considering ordering some (already have the ordinary eupatorium sown....but not yet emerging). All a bit new to me but since I am gardening in completely different circumstances, I have been moving further from my normal comfort zone.

Love 'Nora Leigh' garden phlox, Terrene.

Noted Rouge and others saying how good it was on GW several years ago.

It's very hardy and very mildew resistant, but maybe not quite as vigorous (your divisions) here. We've had several clumps in our garden for well over five years.

I love "Chocolate" Joe Pye for the foliage - lovely bronze-y foliage earlier in the season which fades to green. The foliage is the primary reason I have it - I'm not a fan of the white flowers, plus if I don't cut them off seedlings are everywhere the following season (including way across on the other side of the yard!). I would probably like the flowers much better if they were pink, but overall it is a very nice plant. :0)

Yes pink flowers would be fabulous! I love pink. But I like the hazy clouds of white flowers too.

Campanula, this is definitely a weedy species, and makes abundant seedlings. Although the Chocolate plants bloom a bit later than the plain green species, I think the two are cross-pollinating some in the back yard. The offspring of the Chocolate plants (those seedlings showing up closer to the mother plants) all show some purple color, but usually not as much as the cultivar itself.

Farther back, the green species seedlings are spreading like crazy. They are very drought and shade tolerant - also critter proof as nothing eats them. I've got them mixed with other fairly aggressive eastern US woodland natives like Helianthus divaricatus and Aster cordifolius and sorta let them have a free for all.

Me too - going for the garden equivalent of bear vs shark.
So, I have campanula rapunculoides against hesperis matronalis,.......symphytum officiale with angelica archangelica.

I am hoping the combined efforts of selected thugs will overpower the brambles and nettles which have previously held sway.
Have taken note of your suggestions - aster cordifolia definitely has legs, I think.

I sadly lost the last of my chocolate joe pye last year. It did great for a few years, but I think the soil dried up too quick where it was. It was in part sun. I was constantly having to water it, and it never stayed moist. It wasnt too close to anything that would harm it.