Continuing my weekly posts on weeds and/or wild flowers growing in my garden, I am sharing a beauty this week. Some of you may consider it an invasive nuisance. But personally I love it!
Goldenrod, Solidago canadensis
Just outside our fence, but still on our property!
The species that grows wild in abundance here is the non-native Solidago canadensis, while our own native one, Solidago virgaurea, is a much rarer sight. I have planted the latter in the garden, but it does not like its neighbours and refuses to thrive. The Canadian cousin is much less fussy and can be found on open banks, the edge of woods and on land disturbed by building projects. We have quite a bit in the damper spots of our garden and just outside our fence, but its deep roots mean it can survive in hot and dry locations too.
It started opening late July this year. But then a cool damp spell slowed it down.
Now, after some late summer sunshine, it has opened fully and is flowering in all its golden glory!
I class it as a wild flower rather than a weed. 😃 And I love using it in vases.
I have read that it can be used to dye cloth – a cloth of gold indeed. 😃
The name ‘solidago’ means ‘to make whole’ and this plant has been used in herbal medicine across the world for calming stomachs, healing wounds and treating bronchitis. But here I think it is known better as a magnet for bees, hoverflies, butterflies, every pollinator you can imagine, providing nectar late in the season.
I think Mary Oliver’s poem says it all, so I will leave you with it and wish you all a wonderful wild and weedy week in the garden! 😃
in fall fields,
in rumpy bunches,
saffron and orange and pale gold,
in little towers,
soft as mash,
sneeze- bringers and seed- bearers,
full of bees and yellow beads
and perfect flowerlets
and orange butterflies.
I don’t suppose much notice comes of it,
except for honey,
and how it heartens the heart with its blank blaze. I don’t suppose anything loves it except,
perhaps,
the rocky voids filled by its dumb dazzle. For myself,
I was just passing by,
when the wind flared
and the blossoms rustled,
and the glittering pandemonium leaned on me. I was just minding my own business
when I found myself on their straw hillsides,
citron and butter-colored,
and was happy,
and why not? Are not the difficult labors of our lives
full of dark hours? And what has consciousness come to anyway, so far,
that is better than these light-filled bodies? All day on their airy backbones
they toss in the wind,
they bend as though it was
natural and godly to bend,
they rise in a stiff sweetness,
in the pure peace of giving one’s gold away.
Words and Herbs 
That’s gorgeous, Kathy. We have a huge Solidago bush in our garden, just turning into yellow now.
An August highlight! Love the flower arrangements.
Thanks Dina!
I haven’t knowingly seen this around where I live, but maybe I am not recognising it.
It is everywhere I look at the moment… roadsides, railway lines, building sites, people’s gardens…. 😃
Lovely!
Thank you for sharing the poem.
You’re welcome!
Invasive? Perhaps. I would not know. I have never met it. I am impressed by it in pictures, and would like to grow it if I were not so aware of its reputation. Supposedly, there is a native species here that is not so invasive. I have never met it either.
You have never met Goldenrod? Interesting that it doesn’t grow wild in California. It is otherwise so widespread.
No. I have not even encountered the native species. It is not as colorful as other species, so I might have encountered it without being aware of it. Other species would likely grow here, but were somehow never introduced.
Goldenrod has made into my garden beds. I allow a few to grow for the pollinators.
I allowed a little in my old garden and in damper summers it threatened to take over, but usually the dry conditions there kept it in check!
I love golden rod and I got some from a neighbour who was digging some out. It adds a great bit of colour and my mum always had it in her garden as well. She has asked for some of mine as she has lost hers. Insects love it 🙂
Lovely that the joy of it is being passed on from gardener to gardener! 😃
I think Goldenrod grows everywhere! I have it. and love it.
I am happy to hear it grows in Florida too. 😃
It is lovely Cathy. I bought a hybrid this spring but returned it, a bit nervous it might spread too much for my ability to contain it. I wanted it to use for pollinators and flower arrangements. Enjoy your wildflower! Mary Oliver got so much right.
Probably a wise decision Susie, as it does spread both underground and by seed. Mine hasn’t got too near the flower beds yet. 😃
I think it’s lovely, Cathy, but I don’t see it much here. I remember seeing it in the Malibu hills area but I wouldn’t have a clue what species that might be. I think people here often avoid it because it’s frequently confused with ragweed, that terrible allergy aggravator.
I have a few weeds to share this week: https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2023/08/wild-weedy-wednesday-edible-weeds.html
A shame you don’t see it Kris. I’ll take a look at your weeds now. 😃
It tends to overtake any neighbor, being both stoloniferous and allelopathic. I prefer the clumping species that are better behaved. 🙂 I used to dislike it because it is the harbinger of autumn, but now I love it. Such a great pollinator plant, its pollen being esp. high in protein to boost bees through the long winter. And yes, lovely in a vase, too!
Good to hear it is especially good for the bees Eliza. I like it precisely because it is the harbinger of autumn… my favourite season! 😃
The poem is lovely. Solidago canadensis is native here, but it tends to be quite aggressive here, too. I love it, but my garden is too shady for it to thrive here. Rabbits seem to eat the shade Goldenrods, so I gave up. Love to see them during my hikes, though.
😃 Glad you can still enjoy them even if they are not in your garden Beth!
Pretty. I’ve noticed several bloggers using this in their vases. Always to great effect. It makes me rue ripping it out of my borders whenever I find it 🙂. Then again, I’ve not managed to completely rid myself of it 10 years after ‘removing’ it!
That’s the problem isn’t it… it can get the upper hand if not kept in check! Luckily mine has not reached the flower beds yet!
🤣
I can see its attraction when you have space for a large stand of it, as you do, despite its yellowness! I like the idea of the idea of it being used in dying, producing a cloth of gold, and the poem too
Are you not keen on yellow then Cathy? I must look into the dyeing, as it does sound nice. And I have got to know Mary Oliver’s poetry only in recent years and do enjoy it.
I have mixed feelings about yellow, but realised as I thought about your question that sometimes it is the shade of yellow I am not keen on and sometimes it is the structure of the plant in relation to the yellowness 😉
😃 I think it is the combination too…. if I have yellow appear next to pinks and blues together I am not keen, but with greens and blues it looks lovely and with just pink I like it too! LOL!
That’s an interesting observation, and as I have thought more about it I wondee if the proportion of yellow bloom to green foliage comes into it too as, for example, I am aware how much I like yelliw rudbeckias!
ps my younger sister used a lot of natural dyes – my Mum ued to send her all her used onion skins!!
Beautiful arrangement! I don’t think I see this around here?
Whereabouts are you then? It is very common here.
A very special native plant here….I am so glad you love it too!
Wonderful, isn’t it! 😃