Top Pollinator Plant in the East

Many people are now very interested in setting up places in their yard to encourage pollination. Native bees have struggled for many decades against climate change, development and yard practices that reduce their native habitat. It is wonderful to see the renewed focus on these vital insects that are a keystone in any food chain for humans, our fruit and vegetables, our meat and the wildlife that balances our ecosystem.

Each September, goldenrod blooms, turning roadsides, old fields and wet meadows into a spectacular show of gold. As you may have seen in a recent meme, many people believe it is the same as ragwort and that it is responsible for hay fever and other allergies but this is not the case (do not worry, lots of things outside can make you sneeze. That is just life!).

Why goldenrod ranks first

Goldenrod (Solidago) does more for pollinators than any other flowering perennial in the eastern United States. It is still blooming after most other flowers are gone. It supports pollinators in two main ways; by feeding caterpillars, which become butterflies and moths and which feed nearly all nesting songbirds. And by feeding bees, including pollen specialist bees that can raise their young only on a few kinds of plants.

• Caterpillars. Research by Desiree Narango, Doug Tallamy and Kimberley Shropshire found that a small number of “keystone” plant groups support most butterfly and moth species (Narango et al., 2020). Tallamy names goldenrod the best non-woody keystone plant, with 110 caterpillar species in the East (Pacific Horticulture, 2022).
• Specialist bees. A survey by Jarrod Fowler and Sam Droege found that goldenrod is the most common host for pollen specialist bees in the eastern United States, with about 40 species (Fowler & Droege, 2020).
• Both together. The National Wildlife Federation keystone list for the eastern forests credits goldenrod with 104 caterpillar species and 42 specialist bee species (National Wildlife Federation, n.d.), the highest caterpillar count of any flowering perennial on the list. Native sunflowers support more specialist bees (50) but far fewer caterpillars (66), and asters support nearly as many caterpillars (100) but fewer specialist bees (33).

Goldenrod also feeds wasps and beetles, and Penn State Extension calls it a prolific producer of nectar and pollen (D’Aurora, 2026).

Food at the end of the season

Goldenrod blooms from late summer into fall, when many other plants have stopped flowering (Tangley, 2022). That timing matches the needs of several pollinators.

• Bumble bees. Colonies are raising new queens that must survive the winter to start next year’s colonies (The Peterborough Examiner, n.d.), and the NWF calls goldenrod critical late-season food for bumble bees (Tangley, 2023).
• Solitary bees. Goldenrods and asters are the two most important late-season sources of pollen and nectar (Craig, 2021) for bees stocking their nests for winter.
• Monarchs. In some regions, goldenrod fuels the fall migration of monarch butterflies (Tangley, 2022).

Without goldenrod, many of these insects would find little to eat in the fall.

Value after the flowers fade

• Winter food for birds. A Brooklyn Botanic Garden source calls goldenrod one of the best winter food sources for birds (Brooklyn Botanic Garden, n.d.), and American goldfinches eat its seeds (D’Aurora, 2026).
• Galls. The round swellings on the stems come from the goldenrod gall fly, which lives its entire life cycle on goldenrod (Mahr, n.d.), and black-capped chickadees and downy woodpeckers (Maryland Biodiversity Project, n.d.) eat the larvae in winter.
• Nest sites. Some native bees spend the winter inside hollow or pithy goldenrod stems (Griner, 2023), including small carpenter bees and leafcutter bees (Foltz Jordan et al., 2020).

The goldenrods on Nativebase

North America has more than 100 goldenrod species (Tangley, 2022), with about 26 in the Northeast (Craig, 2021). They grow in open fields, wetlands and shaded woods, and they vary widely in size and habit.

Open, sunny ground

Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis). It is native across Canada and throughout the United States (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, 2023b) and grows in meadows, fields, roadsides and clearings (Native Plant Trust, n.d.-d). It spreads by underground stems and quickly fills disturbed ground (Mahr, n.d.), so it suits a meadow or field edge better than a formal bed.

Late Goldenrod (Solidago altissima). Also called tall goldenrod, it favors drier soils (Taylor, n.d.) in prairies, old fields, roadsides and forest openings across most of the United States. It is a common host of the goldenrod gall fly.

Early Goldenrod (Solidago juncea). It blooms from June through August, ahead of the other goldenrods. It is native from New Brunswick to Manitoba and south to Virginia, in dry, sandy fields and wood borders (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, 2023e).

Midwestern Stiff Goldenrod (Solidago rigida, also Oligoneuron rigidum). It has a flat-topped cluster of fewer, larger flower heads (Native Plant Trust, n.d.-a) than other goldenrods. It is native from Alberta to Ontario, south to Georgia and west to Texas (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, 2022), in dry, sandy or rocky soils, forest edges and limestone ledges, and it is very rare in New England (Native Plant Trust, n.d.-a).

Wet ground

Giant Goldenrod (Solidago gigantea). Also called smooth goldenrod, it has a hairless stem with a waxy coating that rubs off. It usually grows in wet places (Native Plant Trust, n.d.-f) such as moist fields and riverside forests, ranges across most of the United States and Canada, and blooms from August through October (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, 2023d).

Wrinkle-Leaf Goldenrod (Solidago rugosa). Its hairy leaves have a wrinkled surface along the veins (Native Plant Trust, n.d.-g). It ranges from Newfoundland to Georgia and west to Michigan, Missouri and Texas, grows in low woods, meadows, old fields, pine barrens and bogs (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, 2023f), and blooms from August into November.

Bog Goldenrod (Solidago uliginosa). It grows only in wetlands (Native Plant Trust, n.d.-h), including bogs, fens and wet meadows. It ranges from Newfoundland to Minnesota, south to Maryland, Ohio and Indiana, and in the mountains to Tennessee and North Carolina (Missouri Botanical Garden, n.d.).

Woods and shade

Bluestemmed Goldenrod (Solidago caesia). Its blue or purple stem (Native Plant Trust, n.d.-c) carries small flower clusters along its length. It grows in rich woods, wood borders and clearings (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, 2023a) from Maine to Florida and Texas, reaches 1.5 to 3 feet, and forms tidy clumps (Tennessee Smart Yards, 2021), which makes it a good choice for a shade garden.

Broad Leaf Goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis). Also called zigzag goldenrod, its stem bends back and forth between the leaves (Native Plant Trust, n.d.-e). It grows in rich woods, on slopes and along sandy stream banks (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, 2023c) from Quebec to North Dakota and south to Georgia, in sun or shade.

Cutleaf Goldenrod (Solidago arguta). Also called Atlantic goldenrod, it is native to the woods of eastern North America (Semple, 2013). It grows in deciduous forests, woodlands, forest edges and clearings (Native Plant Trust, n.d.-b).

Goldenrod is not ragweed, mugwort or ragwort

	Goldenrod (Solidago)	Common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia)	Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)	Tansy ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris)
Native	Yes	Yes	No, from Europe and Asia (New Jersey Invasive Species Strike Team, n.d.)	No, from Europe (King County, n.d.)
Flowers	Bright yellow, in wand-like clusters of hundreds of small flowers (D’Aurora, 2026)	Tiny and green (Cornell University, n.d.), on spikes	Small and inconspicuous (New Jersey Invasive Species Strike Team, n.d.), at the top of the plant	Yellow and daisy-like, with petals (King County, n.d.)
Leaves	Narrow and undivided	Finely divided, like a fern (Cornell University, n.d.)	Deeply lobed, white and hairy underneath, spicy when crushed (New Jersey Invasive Species Strike Team, n.d.)	Ruffled and lobed, like kale (King County, n.d.)
Pollen	Heavy and sticky, carried by insects (UF/IFAS Extension Northwest District, 2014)	Carried by wind, and the main late-summer allergen in the United States (Cornell University, n.d.)	Carried by wind, and a major source of allergy pollen (Frątczak et al., 2025)	Not a hay fever plant, but poisonous to livestock (Government of Ontario, 2023)
Concern	None	Allergies	Widespread and highly threatening to native plants in New Jersey (New Jersey Invasive Species Strike Team, n.d.)	Regulated noxious weed (King County, n.d.) in parts of the country

Goldenrod does not cause hay fever. Its pollen is too large, heavy and sticky to travel on the wind, so it does not reach your nose. Ragweed, which blooms at the same time, from August to frost (UF/IFAS Extension Northwest District, 2014), releases billions of fine pollen grains into the air. Goldenrod gets the blame because its flowers are the ones people see.

Mugwort is the plant to remove. It spreads aggressively by underground stems and survives mowing (New Jersey Invasive Species Strike Team, n.d.), and it crowds out native plants, goldenrod included. A mugwort leaf smells spicy when crushed and is silvery white underneath, and a goldenrod leaf is neither.

Not every ragwort is a problem. Tansy ragwort is invasive, but native golden ragwort (Packera aurea) is a separate plant that blooms in spring (Wixted, 2021) and deserves a place in the garden.

About spreading

Some goldenrods spread, and Canada goldenrod in particular moves quickly into disturbed ground (Mahr, n.d.). Tufts University notes, however, that most goldenrods are well behaved (Tufts Pollinator Initiative, 2022). Give the spreading species the fields, meadows and ditches, and plant clump-forming species such as bluestemmed goldenrod in garden beds.

How to leave goldenrod alone

• Skip the late-summer and fall mowing, when goldenrod feeds bumble bee queens, solitary bees and migrating monarchs.
• Leave the stems standing through winter for seeds, galls and bee nests, or cut them to varying heights of 12 to 18 inches (Griner, 2023) if you must cut.
• Wait until spring to clean up, once pollinators are flying and temperatures stay warm (Brooklyn Botanic Garden, n.d.).
• Keep the galls, since goldenrod blooms normally even with galls (Mahr, n.d.).
• Pull the mugwort and keep the goldenrod, and check the leaves if you are unsure: mugwort leaves are deeply lobed and silvery white underneath (New Jersey Invasive Species Strike Team, n.d.), while goldenrod leaves are narrow and undivided.

A stand of goldenrod at the edge of a road or field is not neglect. It is some of the most valuable habitat in the fall landscape, and it is worth leaving in place.

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