Canada Goldenrod - Solidago canadensis
Solidago canadensis, or Canada Goldenrod, is a perennial wildflower native to Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. This is one of several tall goldenrods with a profuse late season display of golden flower clusters. It reaches 3 to 5 feet tall, and spreads by rhizome and seed to form drifts. It is not fussy about soil types and tends to tolerate dry soils better than other tall goldenrods. The preference is for full sun, but part shade can be tolerated. Flower clusters are large and showy, peaking in late summer through early fall.
Canada Goldenrod is famous. All your crusty old neighbors will tell you of its evils. They will say it is invasive and causes allergies. But wait. Canada Goldenrod is actually quite nice, and for certain applications it is perfect.
I have covered elsewhere that goldenrods causing allergies is a myth. Goldenrods are insect pollinated and the pollen stays on the flower until it gets stuck to an insect. That is what goldenrod pollen is designed for. Goldenrods happen to bloom in late summer at the same as the Ragweeds, which are generally not noticed because they have boring green flowers. The flowers are boring because the wind has no eyes, and Ragweed is wind-pollinated, filling the air with tons of pollen. When people look around, they see pretty goldenrod putting on a show for its bees, and don't realize it is Ragweed they should be giving the side-eye.
Second, let's get rid of that "invasive" tag. Native plants can't be invasive. Invasive means a non-native plant that harms the environment When you have more goldenrod in your space than you would like, you just end up with an abundance of habitat for bees, moths, birds, and everything else that doesn't share your neighbor's yard aesthetic. That being said, Canada Goldenrod and its cousin, Tall Goldenrod, are aggressive spreaders in empty space. That is what they are meant to do - turn empty space into a goldenrod factory. You will not hear any complaints from the bees.
Coincidentally, your crusty old neighbors who hate Canada Goldenrod were taught to garden with specimen plants that don't touch each other. Or sometimes they were farmers, trying to grow rows of weed-free crops or graze as many animals on a piece of land as possible. All of those practices create empty space on the ground surface for goldenrod seeds to find and make their own, putting the large goldenrods at odds with the keepers of these practices. And while I wouldn't suggest this species be added to your flower bed, if you are trying to reclaim an old field, or you have a slope or drain field that needs a drift of low maintenance color and pollinator resources, Canada Goldenrod fits the bill.
Goldenrods are keystone host plants. That means that they host so many types of insects, an entire section of the ecosystem would collapse without them. Goldenrods are the single best flower for being a host plant (Tallamy's Native Plant Finder) and supporting pollinators. They support over a hundred moths and butterflies, and countless other insects, on and in their leaves and stems. That means these plants are crucial to their habitat, feeding birds and their nestlings richly on insect resources before the goldenrod has even bloomed. Later, their summer and fall flowers are essential to new queen bees preparing to overwinter, or for male bees maintaining their activity to pass on their genetics before frost. Goldenrods feed butterflies preparing to migrate or overwinter, and birds pick the seeds for late-season finch nestlings, or to fatten up for winter. I have even seen deer eating the dry seed heads sticking up through the snow. If you want to create habitat and you have the space, Canada Goldenrod is one of the best plants you can have.