Solidago flexicaulis

Zigzag goldenrod

• Part shade. Will grow in deep shade but with fewer flowers
• Garden to forest soil conditions
• Roughly 3' in height spreading at a moderate rate (similar to Monarda)
• Garden settings, open woodlands and meadows

This is one of the species that really drove home for me the extent to which the conventional horticultural industry has rejected native species.

Late season colour in dry, shaded gardens can be frustratingly elusive when working with most popular perennial landscape species. There is a reason that so many shaded landscapes rely on foliage texture and colour rather than blooms (Hostas anyone?).

But that reason isn’t because there aren’t any late blooming species for those areas. This species, Blue Stem Goldenrod, Heart Leaved Aster, Bigleaf Aster, White Wood Aster and American Alumroot are all disease resistant, tolerant of summer dry spells, have showy blooms in late summer and into the fall and thrive in similar light levels as the ubiquitous Hosta. Yet they are rarely offered in the nursery trade.

-Pictured here with Heart Leaved Aster, Symphyotrichum cordifolium