Vernonia noveboracensis (New York ironweed)

A tall late season nectar and pollen source highly attractive to pollinators. New York Ironweed is found in meadows, ditches, along streams and lakes, and in low woodlands. The bright purple-red blooms are a magnet for countless bees, butterflies and moth species. Hummingbirds also visit the blooms. Vernonia supports specialist bees, such as the Denticulate Longhorn Bee (Melissodes denticulatus), which only feeds on the flowers of this genus.

 

Ironweed is a host plant to several insects, such as the Crossline Skipper, the American Lady butterfly, and the unusual caterpillars of the Wavy-Lined Emerald, which afixes parts of the flowers it eats to itself as camouflage. Songbirds such as finches and sparrows eat the wind-disbursed seeds.

 

Called “ironweed” for its strong, upright stalks that rarely flop and can help support other nearby plants, the dead stems provide habitat for bees in winter. 

Non-aggressive clumping habit, but can spread by seed if happy in its location. Ironweed's dense root system is great for soil retention and erosion control, but difficult to relocate once fully grown. Grows along with common boneset, joe-pye weeds, swamp milkweed, wingstem, blue mistflower, Lobelia cardinalis, the Helenium genus, and Andropogon glomeratus (bushy bluestem grass).