Solidago sphacelata 'Golden Fleece'
Overview
Uses: Front of sunny borders, edging along paths and walls, mass planting and drifts, groundcover on dry banks, pollinator and wildlife gardens.
Benefits: A compact goldenrod that behaves in a garden setting. It forms a low mat of heart-shaped leaves and sends up arching sprays of small golden flowers in fall, staying around a foot tall instead of the four to five feet of the roadside species. It handles heat, drought, and poor soil, and deer generally leave it alone.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4–8
Sun: Full Sun to Partial Shade
Life Cycle: Hardy Perennial
Growth Habit: Mounding, Spreading — low leafy mat with arching flower sprays
Bloom Color: Golden Yellow
Mature Height: 1–1.5 ft.
Mature Width: 1.5–2 ft.
Bloom Season: Late summer through fall
Growth Rate: Moderate to Fast
Summary
Goldenrod has a reputation problem and a size problem. Golden Fleece fixes the second one, and the first is a misunderstanding worth clearing up.
Most of the year it is a dense, low mat of small heart-shaped leaves — tidy enough to edge a path or run along the front of a border. In late summer it sends up branched flowering stems about a foot high that arch outward rather than upward, opening into sprays of tiny golden flowers that hold for six weeks or more.
The reputation problem: goldenrod does not cause hay fever. Its pollen is heavy and sticky, carried by insects rather than wind. Ragweed blooms at the same time, is wind-pollinated, and is the actual culprit — goldenrod simply happens to be the conspicuous yellow thing standing next to it.
What it does do is feed things. Goldenrod is among the most valuable late-season nectar and pollen sources in North America, supporting native bees, migrating monarchs, and a long list of beneficial insects when the season is closing down.
Care
Golden Fleece Goldenrod Care
Plant in full sun to partial shade. Full sun gives the densest mat and heaviest bloom; it accepts a few hours of shade without much loss, which is more than most goldenrods will.
Give it well-drained soil, and do not improve it much. This plant is at its best in lean, dry, even rocky ground. Rich soil and steady moisture produce floppy stems and encourage it to spread faster than you want.
Water through the first season to establish. After that it needs very little — it is one of the more dependable perennials through a dry August.
Fertilizer is unnecessary and counterproductive here. If you are working with genuinely exhausted soil, one light spring application of slow release fertilizer is the most it should ever get.
Shear the spent flower stems after bloom to limit self-sowing, or leave them for winter structure and seed-eating birds and cut back in early spring. It spreads by short rhizomes; edge the clump with a spade every couple of years, or divide in spring, if it reaches further than you intended.
Size
What Size is the Golden Fleece Goldenrod for Sale Online?
Our Golden Fleece Goldenrod ships in a greenhouse-grade grow pot and is appropriately sized for its container at the time of shipment. If you have specific sizing or planting questions, please contact us.
How Large Does Golden Fleece Goldenrod Grow?
Golden Fleece stays roughly one to one and a half feet tall in bloom, with the foliage mat itself only a few inches high, and spreads about a foot and a half to two feet wide. Space eighteen inches apart for a continuous groundcover.
Additional Information
What are some common names for this plant?
The most widely used names, in rough order of familiarity, are:
- Golden Fleece goldenrod
- Autumn goldenrod
- Dwarf goldenrod
Does goldenrod cause hay fever?
No. Goldenrod pollen is heavy and sticky and is moved by insects, not wind, so it does not travel far enough to reach anyone’s sinuses. Ragweed blooms at the same time, releases enormous quantities of light wind-borne pollen, and is the real cause. Goldenrod just happens to be the plant people notice.
Will it take over the garden?
Not the way the roadside species does. Golden Fleece spreads by short rhizomes and widens gradually into a clump rather than running. In lean, dry soil it stays where you put it. In rich, moist soil it moves faster, so edge or divide it every couple of years if you want it held to a defined space.
How is it different from the goldenrod growing in fields?
Height, mostly. Field goldenrods are typically Solidago canadensis or Solidago altissima, running four to six feet and spreading aggressively by underground stems. Golden Fleece is a selection of Solidago sphacelata, a southeastern native that is naturally shorter and far better behaved. See our Native Plants of North America collection for related species.
How does it hold up to drought and deer?
Well on both counts. Once its roots are down it tolerates extended dry weather with no supplemental water, and deer very rarely browse goldenrod. See our Drought-Tolerant Plants collection and our deer-resistant perennials and grasses.
