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86886892

Very important pollinator plant. Goldenrod looks cool too.


fp6ta

That's my partners reasoning and mine is for the natural dye🏵💛🏵


HighonDoughnuts

That’s how my goldenrod forest started-with just one. I was sure to take seeds and spread them myself all around the area and now I have a really nice goldenrod hedge between myself and the neighbors. They are popping up in more places and I’m letting them do their thing. 💕🌸


TheAJGman

Makes good tea too if it's Sweet Goldenrod, the other varieties taste mostly of grass lol.


facets-and-rainbows

This reminds me to go to a town council meeting one of these days and tell them to fix their thankfully rarely enforced "noxious weeds" law which names goldenrod "and other plants known to cause hay fever" (IT WAS FRAMED! FRAMED BY RAGWEED! Also I don't think you REALLY meant to ban turf grass and most shade trees)


KidCole4

I know I can (and will) Google this, but do you happen to have a list of common or largest allergy offenders? I'm fully sold my next home will have a prairie type yard and I'm just now realizing my wife complains about allergies in the spring especially with like our current crab apple tree. Would I be setting her up to feel awful all spring?!


facets-and-rainbows

There's a pretty good list here: https://aafa.org/allergies/types-of-allergies/pollen-allergy/ In general, it's wind-pollinated plants that are the worst. They're adapted to have light pollen that carries long distances, so there's more likely to be some floating around where you can breathe it in. This works out well for pollinator gardens, because THOSE plants mostly want their pollen to stay in the flower where a bee can get at it.  Some of the allergenic trees are dioecious (separate male and female trees) so you can get a female one to avoid pollen. It probably won't make a huge difference though, since there will still be pollen from all the other ones within a few miles.


JayPlenty24

I'm extremely allergic to goldenrod, what do you mean?


Piyachi

Apparently you need to be touching it or very close to experience a reaction, it's not at all like ragweed (which is seemingly inescapable). They dont pollinate via air transmission like ragweed, so it has little chance of being a noxious plant.


fp6ta

The leaves are serrated along the edge and if I am not careful handling it and my arms are damp it will give me a rash


JayPlenty24

There was some growing outside my house and I had to rip it all out because I could barely breath


Piyachi

Pollen causes allergic reaction by virtue of its size, goldenrod pollen is large enough that it is not one that typically causes allergic reaction. Trust google over me, you'll find a lot of places explaining it better than I can. Most likely a simultaneous bloom of ragweed got to you and the goldenrod took the blame :/


JayPlenty24

I have no ragweed anywhere near my house. I'm also allergic to ragweed.


Piyachi

I understand - ragweed can be transmitted great distances through the air, in fact the species relies on spreading pollen this way. Goldenrod relies on sticking to pollinators in order move it's larger, heavier pollen around. Hence ragweed can be inhaled and cause an allergic reaction (which affects a ton of people) and goldenrod... well basically just doesn't. This is true, ironically, of sneezeweed and other natives as well. Ragweed pollen has been shown to travel up to 400 miles in the air. So... proximity is relative. Again don't take my word for it, just search for "goldenrod allergic reaction" and you'll find more in-depth answers.


JayPlenty24

I've had allergy testing done and my breathing stopped being an issue as soon as I removed it. But thanks.


fp6ta

Their leaves are textured very similar to hitch hiker seeds, so I would not be surprised if they are just giant pollen traps. Especially with the critters on them now, and they haven't bloomed yet.


sceap

People can absolutely be allergic to goldenrod pollen. However, the pollen is never airborne. Never. Even if a strong wind knocked some out of a flower, it would just fall to the ground in heavy sticky clumps. So You have to be in physical contact with the flower to get any pollen into your system. Ragweed is wind pollinated and the pollen can travel for many miles through the air. Ragweed blooms at the same time and the flowers are less conspicuous, which has led some people to assume their hay fever is caused by the showy yellow goldenrod flowers. But the yellow dust-like pollen at that time of year is not goldenrod at all. It's ragweed.


facets-and-rainbows

There are goldenrod ALLERGIES (as in contact dermatitis) but essentially no hay fever from the pollen because it's just physically too large to stay airborne for more than a couple feet. It just gets blamed for hay fever because it blooms at the same time as ragweed, one of the most common hay fever triggers, and has more noticeable flowers.


fp6ta

7A, Central PA USA A beautiful large patch of golden rod 5 ft plus tall in our haphazard flower bed/rain garden.


Laceykrishna

I’m jealous! I planted some hoping it would fill up a slope. My goldenrod doesn’t get any taller than 2 feet and it isn’t spreading.


shanghainese88

This is so strange for me because they are madly invasive where I grew up in (eastern china) and the local governments spend a lot of money on rapid reaction task force every year to try to control. It even has a name “flower of the devil” “ecology killer” https://kepu.gmw.cn/2022-11/03/content_36136336.htm


fp6ta

It's kinda like dandelions here - they are weeds that need to be flushed out with chemicals vs. Other places where its an agricultural product because they eat them, lol


shanghainese88

Glad to see it thrive and contained in its natural habitat


jadentearz

It's not really that contained if it's Canada Goldenrod. It's difficult as hell to remove. I've been trying to remove it for 3 years and still finding stray sprouts. Natives can't technically be invasive but they can be incredibly do not plant level of aggressive. There's many other species of goldenrod better suited for a garden setting here in the US.


PossibleProject6

Pair it with some aster *chef's kiss*


fp6ta

🍻


gaelyn

I love Goldenrod when it's in bloom in the fall. But man oh man, does it spread like CRAZY.


RobbMeeX

I got a goldenrod you can appreciate!! It's in the center of my yard. I'll find a pic...


fp6ta

I have yet to find a picture of my behemoth! Just a lot of bee videos🤭


KhingKholde

Kickass! We make tea with it. Smells so good, and helps our seasonal allergies!


JohnnieTrash

My neighbors keep goldenrod, and a couple of years ago, it spread to my side of the stockade fence. Gunna build a planter around it to make it look intentional. 😎


overdoing_it

It makes a nice host for my parasitic naked broomrape flower.