Here’s PennLive garden writer George Weigel’s Plant Pick of the Week for this week:
* Common name: Goldenrod ‘Fireworks’
* Botanical name: Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’
* What it is: Goldenrods are Pennsylvania-native perennials that bloom gold to golden-yellow in early fall.
‘Fireworks’ is a classic selection of goldenrod that’s distinctive for its long, arching flower wands that the plant’s namer thought resembled fireworks exploding.
It’s also a heavy bloomer that stays in color for about three weeks from late September into October.
Goldenrods are excellent late-season pollinator attractors, but they aren’t a leading hay-fever, sneeze-inducer as many people think (that culprit is ragweed, which is a less noticeable bloomer that flowers at the same time).
Deer usually don’t bother goldenrods.
‘Fireworks’ grows in spreading clumps (not fast-spreading runners) and sometimes self-seeds.
The variety is an all-around strong-enough performer that it won a 2025 Gold Medal Award from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society as a plant deserving more use in mid-Atlantic landscapes. ‘Fireworks’ also was the top scorer in the Chicago Botanic Garden’s 2001 trial of 22 different goldenrods.
* Size: Plants grow three to three-and-a-half feet tall with a spread of two-and-a-half to three feet.
* Where to use: Goldenrods do well in full sun to light shade and will grow in dry to sometimes-wet soil.
Good locations for ‘Fireworks’ include meadows and meadow gardens, perennial borders, rock gardens, cut-flower gardens, rain gardens, pollinator gardens, and really any sunny bed or bank where you like the plant’s loose look and have adequate space.
* Care: Keep plants damp the first season to establish the roots, then water is usually not needed except in extended dry spells.
Fertilizer also isn’t usually needed. A scattering of an organic granular fertilizer formulated for flowers is optional in early spring.
Snip off flower stems after bloom if you don’t want any seeding. Otherwise, let the seed heads and foliage stand through winter and cut it to the ground before new growth begins in spring.
Clumps can be dug and divided every two to three years in early spring if you want to expand the planting or give divisions to friends.
* Great partner: Red switchgrass, big bluestem ‘Blackhawks,’ and prairie dropseed are three native grasses that give good textural and color contrast to goldenrods in fall.
Red mums are a good perennial partner that overlap goldenrod’s bloom time.
Most any green or golden evergreen is a good shrubby partner.
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