Goldenrod

The curtain came down today at 4:19PM CDT. Summer has bowed out; Autumn begins its reign.

My husband and I agree on almost everything from politics to the horrors of oatmeal. One glaring exception is goldenrod. He hates it; I love it.

“It’s coarse and ugly,” he says.

I suspect another dimension to his distaste of this plant. My husband’s favorite season is summer. Yellowing goldenrod is a harbinger of fall. He wants to shoot the messenger.

Every spring I must wage a campaign to save the sprouting goldenrod. I’ll capitulate and let him tear up a few stalks that are trespassing in the daylilies or pampas grass. He will be kind and leave large, sprouting swathes untouched.

As I look out onto our yard now, the goldenrod is waving like amber surf. And everywhere I drive, the roadsides are shimmering. Alongside the roads, the goldenrod teams up with huge stands of lavender-topped Joe Pye Weed and royal purple asters. Soon the sumac will turn brilliant crimson and join the party.

Summer may be dying, but its last act is sheer brilliance.

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5 thoughts on “Goldenrod”

  1. If I remember correctly from your previous blog, you live along the shore…and if you are in the general area that I think you are, I drove past your place the last two mornings. And will again the next two mornings before heading north and west. My mom, from Cleve…is now residing in Man-town. We are staying just east of the tavern that is closest to the lake.

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  2. I like goldenrod and its coarse texture contrasts to the delicate Queen Anne’s Lace. My purist friends however decry it as a non-native.

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