Goldenrod (Solidago)

It's a sure sign of fall when the goldenrod stands tall! These tall golden yellow plumes rise above most of the native grasses in our naturalized side yard. Unfortunately for this beautiful perennial flower it is commonly mistaken for a more insidious vegetative villain, ragweed. Ragweed is the plant responsible for all those hay fever allergy problems people experience in the fall. This is probably because ragweed and goldenrod both flower at the same time. The pollen in these perennial plants is very heavy, perfect for bees and pollinators to carry from plant to plant but not very good for the wind to disperse. Ragweed pollen floats easily on the wind. Ragweed's flowers are not nearly as noticeable as goldenrod's and many people a fooled into thinking that our yellow flowering friend is the culprit.



Acceptance of this fact is coming around now and fewer people practice pollinating prejudice against our wonderful wildflower. In fact you can purchace specially bred varieties of Solidago in stores near you. Most likely it will be identified as Solidago in stores since many people erroneously presume that allergies are caused by goldenrod.



I purchased a smaller dwarf variety a couple weeks ago on the discount racks. I probably wouldn't have bought it if it hadn't been a dwarf. I've always thought goldenrod was beautiful to look at. The golden yellow flower stalks reach for the sky like an echo of the summer sun passing along. Of course my wife told me I bought a weed!



Our wild solidago is just now starting to bloom. It's a nice show to watch under the September sun.


Although the blooms are slightly fewer it is doing very well in the shady areas surrounding our yard.


It's a common wildflower but has such a flourish of blooms that everyone should appreciate it as a sign of summer's ending in a flourish of gold!