Discover more from My Gaia
Stiff Goldenrod has a special place in my heart. It was my first. The first goldenrod I ever identified on my own. New to native wildflowers then, I was always trying to discover and identify them.
As I drove the gravel road to my house one summer day, I passed a spot where gold was exploding up out of the grasses. The intensity of the color brought my car to a quick halt. This was goldenrod, I could tell from the masses of frothy yellow flower heads.
There are a dozen native goldenrods blooming in southeast Iowa. It’s pretty hard to tell some of them apart. But this one looked very different from all the others.
I climbed down the ditch beside the road and pushed through tall weeds to get to the goldenrods. On unbranched, rigid stems, they came up to my chest.
On the other side of a wire fence, cows grazed in a pasture of solid grass, with no flowers. However, this steep-walled ditch was not grazed. It’s also hard to mow. In this spot protected by neglect, native wildflowers abounded.
It was not a location where anyone would have planted them. No gardener waters or tends them. They must have been surviving here on their own ever since the prairie carpeted this land.
The blossoms were clustered tightly and close to the top of the stem, making a dense gold border in the top few inches. The plants had a sort of flat-topped look about them. The leaves were wide, thick, blunt tipped. I’ve seen leaves of succulents that looked like that.
I took a stem home and looked it up in a field guide.
Stiff Goldenrod! I was pleased to have identified it by myself.
Once abundant in Iowa, Stiff Goldenrod is no longer common here.
Suddenly I was overcome with a longing to see much, much more of this goldenrod. I wanted it to bloom in the wildflower garden at my home. I wanted for there to be more of it, to spread, keeping a bit of the native prairie alive.
Waiting for seeds
I resolved to collect seeds when they became ripe. I watched the plants bloom for over a month.
Eventually gold faded to rusty iron, as the plants turned their attention to ripening seeds. It was no longer easy to spot them as I drove by.
In October the goldenrods went through another transformation that made them reappear. As if by magic, each drab flowerhead became a puff of ivory. When the breeze started tugging the puffs apart, I figured the seeds were ready, because nature was already distributing them.
Collecting seeds
I plucked the top of one puff. A dozen seeds came away in my fingers. I hoped that from these seeds I might eventually see Stiff Goldenrod blooming outside my window.
The seed head
A Stiff Goldenrod puff contains dozens of seeds. When they are ripe, the seeds come out almost at a touch. They are as soft as clouds.
A seed is concealed inside a pale, striped container (called an achene). On top of the achene, a sort of parachute (called the pappus), enables the wind to sail the seeds away.
The flowerhead’s floor (called the receptacle) has microscopic pits, which are where the achenes fit, standing on point and closely packed. The pits become visible as the wind tugs out the achenes.
Reward
As a result of that encounter by the gravel road, Stiff Goldenrods now bloom exuberantly in my prairie flower garden. My rewards are beauty and the deep satisfaction of holding space for a treasured citizen of the prairie.
There are also rewards for butterflies, bumblebees and myriad other insects who hum and buzz among the flowers, harvesting nectar and pollen. Without them, the plants could not reproduce.
Stiff Goldenrod in the garden
Although it might be too sturdy and vigorous for a petite garden, Stiff Goldenrod is a wonderful flower for a large or native-themed garden.
It grows in full sun, survives well in times of drought, and is not picky about soil or fertility. However, it cannot endure forever if mowed relentlessly, subjected to herbicides, or it is eaten to the ground spring after spring. It must have a chance to bloom and create more seeds.
Dear Fellow Admirers of Diane Porter: Doncha just love her for words such as this: "I climbed down the ditch beside the road and pushed through tall weeds to get to the goldenrods. On unbranched, rigid stems, they came up to my chest." Somehow, knowing that she's "not a spring chicken," (And how on earth did this comparison evolve?)...the image of her down in the ditch, chest-high in pure gold, appeals and impresses me immensely. Kudos to you, fellow-wildflower-gatherer, Diane! :<)) Sue
Diane, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford once saw a different kind of "gold" in goldenrod. Eager for an alternative to foreign rubber, Edison latched onto goldenrod. (This 1929 piece describes what he was after: https://time.com/archive/6819165/science-goldenrod-rubber/) He made it work, but the process was unprofitable.
Gotta say that I'm glad. We humans are in the exploiting habit. It's so good to see something we can love just for its own lovely self. Thank you, thank you for the memorable photos!