The Everything Everywhere Plant

The Dune Goldenrod favors the sandy dunes and upper beaches and can be identified by its deep red stem. Photo by Roy Lukes.

September and into October is when, no matter where you look throughout the countryside, you see “fields of the cloth-of-gold,” goldenrods often intermixed with purple-to-blue asters. Imagine what a sight this would be if, rather than all being yellow-flowered, the goldenrod blossoms might be a mixture of blue, pink, red or orange. Do some people look at them as beautiful flowers and welcome some into their gardens or flowers beds? The answer is yes!

In Germany, for example, nearly every household garden has goldenrod plants, often along with asters. Both are, in a sense, weedy, usually free for the asking and digging, and are hardy perennials that need little care. Dig up and bring one plant into your garden and by next year, chances are there’ll be a dozen or more. These highly successful plants will need constant thinning and containment.

It was at least 25 years ago that I brought one plant of the Showy Goldenrod, Solidago speciosa, a favorite of mine, into our front yard and planted it next to the high east stone retaining wall. Today at least a dozen or more of these six-foot giants prosper there with their splendid ascending branches loaded with tiny yellow florets.

Walk 50 feet east, south or west of our front door and you’ll find yourself in the company of many Zig-Zag Goldenrods, S. flexicaulis. This plant’s prolonged angled stems grow as if waveringly uncertain of the proper direction to take, strung with sparkly small clusters of yellow florets. Its saw-edged leaves are ovate and sharply taper to a point. Its relatively large leaves came about to compensate for the shady environments in which they grow. For many years this has been one of my favorite fall wildflowers.

The genus name of these widespread and interesting yellow flowers, Solidago (sah-li-DAY-go), is from the Latin “solidare” meaning to join or make whole. In olden times it was common to cut goldenrod plants into small pieces, boil them in water and use the liquid as a healing wash for wounds.

Wisconsin lays claim to 24 species and varieties of goldenrods, a rather large percentage of the approximately 100 species occurring in the United States. Interestingly, there is only one British species, S. virgaurea, the European Goldenrod. However, sensing the late summer and fall beauty of several North American species, the British, being such masterful gardeners, have imported some showy species to be used especially as tall golden backdrop plants in their gardens.

Three of the goldenrods are in the genus Euthamia (you-THAY-me-a). Only one of the three, the Grass-leaved Goldenrod, Euthamia graminifolia, grows in Door County where it is very common. It is easily told from other goldenrods by its narrow leaves. Its fairly flat inflorescences and abundant blossoms in later fall are quick to attract both butterflies and praying mantids.

The butterflies feast on the copious nectar while the praying mantids wait on top of the flower heads to capture and eat visiting insects. While the weather is still mild enough, chances are good that the female will deposit her egg mass on the rigid stem of one of the goldenrods. A patch of goldenrods is a good place to look for these egg masses.

Frequently when you see large expanses of goldenrods in roadside ditches or nearby fields you’ll be looking at several different species. Two of the dominant species may be the Canada and Grass-leaved Goldenrods, both tending to be quite aggressive. There is a third species, one of my favorites and very abundant in our county, that is quite unique in its appearance and is even easy to identify from your car, the Gray Goldenrod, also called Dyer’s Weed (S. nemoralis) pronounced “nem-o-RAY-liss).

It is called Dyer’s Weed because especially this species and S. rugosa, which is not native to Wisconsin, have been used somewhat by dyers to produce yellow dye. Its more commonly used name, Gray Goldenrod, comes from a slightly gray dusty overall appearance. Ordinarily I look for them along dry stony ditches and in fallow fields that were perhaps not meant to be farmed.

The plant is so easy to see because of its tendency to be slightly curled to one side. Due to the poor soil where many grow they are frequently no taller than eight to 10 inches, dainty little plants. Its species name, “nemoralis,” means “of woodlands.” I must admit that the woodlands would have to be very open for these plants to grow well. Edges of woods may provide satisfactory growing conditions such as I see on our own land, but rarely if ever in deep shaded woods.

Too many books still claim that goldenrods are good for nothing and are especially bad for hay-fever sufferers. Studies have proven without a doubt that pollen of goldenrods is too heavy to be carried by the wind. However, the seeds of these plants are carried by the wind. The big hay fever culprit is the ragweed.

As to the good side of goldenrods, in addition to their great fall beauty, several animals such as prairie chickens, beavers, porcupines, rabbits and deer, eat the leaves and stems. I know of some hillsides and embankments that have been stabilized by expanses of goldenrods.

The flat-topped Ohio Goldenrod is a plant of the Lake Michigan upper shores, well away from the water. Photo by Roy Lukes.

The fact that especially the closely related goldenrods tend to hybridize makes accurate identification difficult at times. Two field guides that I feel are very good for identifying goldenrods are Peterson’s A Field Guide to Wildflowers and Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Even though it’s not always possible to know which goldenrod you’re looking at, it’s fun to try.

Someday I hope to see the Sweet goldenrod, S. odora, in bloom, perhaps in Missouri, Illinois or Ohio. Supposedly a very pleasant tea called “Bohea-tea” can be brewed from this species. Years back it was customary to pick many plants and scatter them over the floors of, for example, churches so that the weight of the people stepping on them would crush them to the point of releasing their anise-like fragrance into the room.

Most often the first goldenrod to bloom in our county, found along Ridges Road at The Ridges Sanctuary, is the flat-topped Ohio Goldenrod, uncommon in Wisconsin. They usually are already in flower by early August. An even rarer goldenrod, the Dune Goldenrod, should be in bloom by late September into October, perhaps the last vigorous blossoming plant of the season nearest to the big lake. Eight to 10 weeks of glorious goldenrods in one area is nothing to sneeze at!