This gleaming giant needs LOTS of room to breathe- because it has a BIG voice that really carries! Wild collected from a local Natural Lands preserve, Giant Goldenrod loves to have plenty of elbow room, and quickly spreads through its rhizomes. For this reason, it is best planted in your backyard meadow spaces - save your garden spaces for the daintier, more delicate-growing candidates. Boisterous, good-natured, and of course, golden, this goldenrod is an early and lively presence at the party and attracts tons of pollinators when it blooms in August and September.
Conditions: Full sun; medium to wet soil; tolerant of poor soil, clay, and drought
Size: 3'-7' tall, 2'-6' wide
Zone: 2 - 8
Wildlife Value: Flowers attract bumblebees, sweat bees, butterflies, skippers, hover flies, pollinating wasps, and several pollen specialist bees; seeds provide food for birds; larval host for dozens of butterfly and moth species
Photos: Jac Janssen