Eupatorium is an invaluable perennial for the late-summer period. They are great companions for other late perennials such as Echinacea, Rudbeckia and Helenium. Ornamental grasses also make for striking contrasting companions. Eupatorium are extremely useful as a landscape plant, where there is a need to make a gentle transition from a highly gardened environment to the natural landscape beyond. It is a plant with a powerful presence that will add colour and form to the late-summer garden and will carry the interest through to autumn and beyond. Eupatorium maculatum atropurpureum is handsome in all of its parts. The colouring is lovely, good mid-green leaves and stems, suffused with a dusky purple that is particularly intense near the leaf axils. The stems are strong and purposeful, you won't find this plant succumbing to strong winds, and are almost entirely purple. The value of its colouring becomes clear when they are associated with the golden hues of ornamental grasses such as Calamagrostis, Deschampsia or Stipa.
The flowers begin in January and continue through until autumn. The plants are crowned with large, domed panicles of pinkish-purple nectar-rich flowers, made up of numerous small flowers, so rich in pollen and nectar that they provide a feast for butterflies and bees. The whole plant grows to around 150cm tall and 40cm across. Does better with adequate moisture.