Solidago odora
Origin: Eastern and Central North America
Improvement status: Wild
Seeds per packet: ~125
BOTANICAL SAMPLE - NOT GERMINATION TESTED
Life cycle: Perennial
A goldenrod with tarragon and anise flavored leaves and flowers. Makes a great fresh nibble in spring, a culinary herb for the kitchen (or bar), and a spectacular tea when in flower. The tea is fantastic and almost became the substitute for imported tea after the Boston Tea Party. Indigenous people and settlers used the plant medicinally for a range of purposes, including as a diuretic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic (pain reliever), fever reducer, antiseptic, and expectorant, often by making infusions from its flowers and leaves. And it's a lovely ornamental as well, even offering winter interest with seed-heads that attract birds until they're picked clean.
Sweet goldenrod is native to the central and eastern US. Unlike many goldenrods, this species is well-behaved and does not spread aggressively. Goldenrods are also among our very best plants for beneficial insects — the nectar is highly preferred by pollinating bees and crop-protecting wasps, and useful to many other pollinators as well. It's highly recommended by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation for people who want to use their landscape to help support native insects. This species blooms for a month or more in late summer and early fall, making it an important hunger-gap flower for honeybees. It's also one of the top herbaceous caterpillar host plants, and its hollow stems are valuable overwintering and nesting sites for numerous insects.
These Massachusetts-grown seeds come from the great Eric Toensmeier, author, scholar, educator, and farmer.
GROWING TIPS: Fall plant for best results. Suitable for dry sand or garden soils, and sun to part shade. USDA zones 4-10.
