Solidago juncea
Early Goldenrod
- Full sun to part shade
- Dry to average soil. Tolerant of sandy, acidic soils.
- 24" to 36" tall, 18" to 30" wide. A much smaller, less overwhelming alternative to Canada Goldenrod for garden settings.
- Gardens, open woodlands and dry to average meadows
Growing to around 30” tall and blooming in July in the Ottawa area, this Goldenrod shares a similar appearance with Canada Goldenrod, but in a more compact form and a much earlier blooming season.
Most of these photos are of a small patch that has made themselves at home at the end of a row in the vegetable garden, where they attract pollinators of all sorts without expecting much in return for this service.
They haven’t been too adventurous, but that may have more to do with all the foot traffic on one side (the path) and all of the digging on the other side (the garden bed, filled with various root vegetables). According to Google, their tendency to fill available space can be a bit more than some gardens are prepared for.
Their tolerance of dry, low organic matter soil does make me thing that they would do quite well along boulevards, if their height is permitted by local bylaws, or any other locations where soil is well drained and watering intermittent, or not available.
For a dry meadow, up to around 3’ tall, these would mix well with native grasses and Flat-topped white aster (although these grow much taller if planted in higher moisture areas), Orange Butterfly Weed, Lance Leaved Coreopsis, Grey Stem Goldenrod (September blooming, to pick up where the Early goldenrod finishes blooming), Black-Eyed-Susan, Heath Aster, Prairie Smoke and Cylindrical Blazing Star.
