Plant of the Week - Episode 412

Common Name:
Golden Baby Golden Rod

Scientific Name:
Solidago ‘Golden Baby’

Common Name:
Golden Fleece Golden Rod

Scientific Name:
Solidago sphacelata ‘Golden Fleece’

Common Name:
Fireworks Golden Rod

Scientific Name:
Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’

These are great native plants for the home landscape.

Golden Rod is an excellent herbaceous perennial that often gets accused of causing hayfever. It is actually ragweed that is the cause and not golden rod. Golden Rod is a vigorous late summer to early fall flowering plant. Goldenrod grows well in full sun to very light shade in well-drained soil.

Golden Baby Golden Rod is a compact, clumping goldenrod that makes a 18" tall mound of foliage. It’s topped from August through October with large, celosia-like spikes of brilliant yellow.

Golden Fleece Golden Rod grows 20-25 inches tall and has yellow flowers with a clumping habit. The alternate leaves are colored medium green and have serrated margins. Flowering occurs in late summer, and the small bright yellow flowers, which are 1/12 to 1/8 in. wide, are borne in large panicles up to 10 in. long.

Fireworks Golden Rod has a slowly spreading rhizome from which the stalks emerge upward in late spring. This plant grows about 18-24 inches tall. In mid-August in NC, the clumps are showered with 18" long, arching spires of brilliant yellow flowers held well atop the foliage. The flowers resemble fireworks with its sensational display of vibrant golden flowers that seem to burst from the plant like skyrockets.

Plant of the Week provided by: Howard Finley, Gastonia, NC