You wouldn't want to grow these weeds in your garden.....or would you?

[alpines]

I thought I'd kick off a new subject having just returned from photographing some native plants bearing the name 'weed'

Photo#1 Ironweed
Photo#2 Joe Pye Weed
Photo#3 Milkweed

All very beautiful and interesting in their own right

[Brian Ellis]

Oh dear I grow them all

[Darren]

I saw the Eupatorium for sale at a local garden centre only yesterday. The bees seemed to like it.

[Tony Willis]

We have been growing the eupatorium in several forms for many years. It is a lovely plant in a perennial border

[Stephenb]

I saw the Eupatorium for sale at a local garden centre only yesterday. The bees seemed to like it.

...and Eupatoriums attract butterflies (Red Admirals, Painted Ladies and Tortoiseshells) to the same degree as Buddleia. Asclepias is also known as a butterfly plant...

[gote]

I would
I already grow Polygonum sachalinense (or whatever it is called nowadays) and P cuspidatum Also Pestasites japonicus and P sp.
All these are fairly easy to contain provided they are in the right place.
Cheers
Göte

[Anthony Darby]

Hemp agrimony was a fantastic plant, as I remember catching my first British clouded yellow butterfly on a clump on holiday near Christchurch, which in those days was in Hampshire.

[scatigaz]

     I bought Eupotorium last week from a local nursery. Very pleased with it.

[scatigaz]

     Sorry Eupatorium.

[TheOnionMan]

I do treasure the genus Vernonia (the Ironweeds; I like the common name too), an excellent genus for late summer and fall color with great attraction for pollinators.  Alan, I'm supplying the textual name Vernonia gigantea for the one you show in your first fine photo, so that the name can be found in a search.  V. gigantea is reported as growing to 10' tall; remarkable!

In full flower now is Vernonia noveboracensis, a well-behaved giant native to Eastern USA (including Massachusetts), mine grows 8' tall, taller than the 20 dm given in the Flora of North America entry (20 dm = ~6-1/2').  It has neat elegant foliage, and flattish corymbs of intense purple flowers.
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=220014135

[TheOnionMan]

I only became familiar with one of the very best Ironweeds about 6 years ago when visiting The Garden In The Woods in Framingham Massachusetts, a marvelous naturalistic display garden managed by the New England Wildflower Society. That's where I met Vernonia lettermannii, a low growing species (as far as Ironweeds go) with thread-narrow leaves looking exactly like Amsonia hubrectii, making fine upright clumps to 2' (60 cm) tall, with the typical sparkling purple late season flowers. This species is native to Arkansas and Oklahoma.

I chanced upon some plants in a nursery recently, growing in two forms, one form slightly taller and lighter green in foliage than the other.  It's only just starting to come into flower.  A couple shots taken with my droid phone, and a shot showing a pot held up infront of my big clump of Amsonia hubrectii to show the foliage similarity.

[ArnoldT]

Helenium

Sneezeweed

[Stephenb]

How about this, 4 species of butterfly on my Hemp Agrimony, Eupatorium cannabinum....Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral and Painted Lady.

[Maggi Young]

How about this, 4 species of butterfly on my Hemp Agrimony, Eupatorium cannabinum....Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral and Painted Lady.

Very lovely... I'm impressed  
These are flowers that really earn their keep in attracting pretty pollinators , which is always a good thing.

[Tim Ingram]

Stephen - that really is a magical photograph of hemp agrimony and butterflies! It is like a Cartier-Bresson moment but with so much colour!