Showy goldenrod
Solidago speciosa · Asteraceae
Dense, upright, club-shaped plumes of bright gold on stiff, reddish stems in early autumn. The most handsome goldenrod, and it stays in a clump.
- Size
- 4 ft tall, 24 in wide
- Zones
- 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Late August to mid October
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Accent
A bed built around showy goldenrod
The planner designed this bed around showy goldenrod when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) naturalistic planting in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 966 that suit those conditions, and says below why showy goldenrod stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Showy goldenrod × 3, yellow
- 2 Striped bloody cranesbill × 8, pink
- 3 Sea thrift × 8, white
- 4 Little bluestem 'The Blues' × 3, tan
- 5 Inkberry 'Gem Box' × 1, dark green leaves
- 6 Wild quinine × 3, white
- 7 Red spider lily × 12, red
- 8 Star of Persia × 4, purple
Why this plant
- The only plumes. The others are open bowls, globes, spires and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
- The only yellow.
- The only medium leaves here. The rest are fine and bold. A change of leaf keeps plants distinct when nothing is in flower.
Why here
- Anchors a back corner. At 4 ft it is the tallest plant here, and the tallest close the ends of the bed, where they stand in front of nothing.
- A step in the back row. Next to little bluestem 'The Blues' (3 ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 3 plants in one clump. A single spire is too slight to hold a place alone, so here the accent is a clump.
Why now
- In flower for 7 weeks. From late August to mid October.
- Closes the season. In its last week nothing else on the plan is in flower.
Planned as a naturalistic planting: low grasses and groundcovers, the matrix, make up 46% of the planted ground. Showy goldenrod and wild quinine anchor the back corners of the bed: the tallest plants on the plan stand there. Neither end outweighs the other: the visual weight is split 53 to 47, left to right.
The planner's own design check: 12 Excellent, 5 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where showy goldenrod goes in a border
At 4 ft it belongs at the back of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is moderately tall (3 to 4 ft).
Its job: accent. An upright plant used singly, like a punctuation mark, and repeated at intervals to give the bed rhythm.
Its flowers stand upright like candles instead of arching. Purple and blue asters beside it make the strongest colour contrast of the autumn.
- Upright gold for the autumn border
- Prairie planting
- Monarchs and late bees
What to plant with showy goldenrod
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- New England aster: purple against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, if you choose those colours, in flower together for six weeks.
- Little bluestem: its blue-green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after.
- Smooth aster 'Bluebird': blue against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, in flower together for six weeks.
Questions about showy goldenrod
Does showy goldenrod need sun or shade?
Showy goldenrod grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants ordinary well-drained soil, of average fertility, and little watering once settled. Once settled in, it stands drought.
What zones does showy goldenrod grow in?
USDA zones 3 to 8. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does showy goldenrod flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late August to mid October. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 3 | Early September to mid October |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Early September to mid October |
| Zone 5 | Late August to mid October |
| Zone 6 | Late August to mid October |
| Zone 7 | Late August to mid October |
| Zone 8 | Late August to mid October |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should showy goldenrod be planted?
18 in (45 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 24 in (60 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 4 ft (120 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many showy goldenrod plants do I need?
At 18 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 5 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 7 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 17 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as one at a time, repeated along the bed at intervals; a slender one reads better as a clump of three.
In the bed above, the planner used three in one group.
Is showy goldenrod poisonous to dogs and cats?
No toxicity is recorded for dogs, cats, horses or people, according to NC State Extension.
"Not toxic" is not "edible": a pet that eats a lot of any plant can be sick.
Do deer eat showy goldenrod?
Mostly not. NC State lists it as resistant to deer. No plant is proof against a hungry deer in a hard winter, but this one is low on the menu.
What flowers after showy goldenrod?
Showy goldenrod is over by mid October. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Tatarian aster 'Jindai': from early October to early November, 4 ft tall.
- Japanese onion 'Ozawa': from early October to early November, 10 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Bodnant viburnum 'Dawn': from early November to late December, 10 ft tall.
What does showy goldenrod look like in winter?
Showy goldenrod dies down, but leave the stems standing: the seed heads stand through the winter, and songbirds eat the seed. Cut them down in early spring, before the new shoots come.
Is showy goldenrod good for bees and butterflies?
Showy goldenrod is visited by pollinators, bees, specialist bees, butterflies and songbirds.
It is a host plant: the caterpillars of wavy-lined emerald feed on its leaves. A butterfly can only lay its eggs on its host plants, so these do more for it than any nectar flower.
It is native to the United States.
More Solidago
- Blue-stemmed goldenrod Solidago caesia
- Goldenrod 'Fireworks' Solidago rugosa 'Fireworks'
- Goldenrod 'Golden Fleece' Solidago sphacelata 'Golden Fleece'
- Goldenrod 'Little Lemon' Solidago 'Dansolitlem' (Little Lemon)
- Stiff goldenrod Solidago rigida
- Zigzag goldenrod Solidago flexicaulis
In these guides
- Deer-resistant perennials for full sun
- Drought-tolerant perennials for full sun
- Pet-safe plants for a sunny border
- Native perennials for pollinators
- Plants for butterflies
- Plants for bees
- Plants that feed garden birds
- Tall perennials and grasses for the back of a border
- Plants that flower in fall
- Host plants for the wavy-lined emerald
Zone guides: Zone 3 · Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 4 ft (120 cm) tall, 24 in (60 cm) wide
- Plant
- 18 in (45 cm) apart
- Height class
- Moderately tall (3 to 4 ft)
- Place in the bed
- Back
- Flowers
- Late August to mid October; feathery plumes; yellow
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; green
- Shape
- Upright, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Average, well-drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Comes from
- Eastern United States
- Attracts
- Pollinators, bees, specialist bees, butterflies, songbirds
- Host plant for
- Wavy-lined emerald
- Stands up to
- Deer, drought
Checked against NC State Extension. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.