Goldenrod nearing its peak
Click to enlarge.
By October 2nd, goldenrod (Solidago sp.) seemed to be approaching its peak, if I can judge by what I found in several places along E. Parmer Lane on the Blackland Prairie in northeast Austin. Happy yellow to you all.
© 2020 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
We still have a few pockets of peak goldenrod but most is now brown. Yellow and blue makes a nice combination.
Steve Gingold
October 12, 2020 at 5:07 AM
You’ve confirmed what we’d expect: that your colder goldenrod would be on its way out now. Over the ten days since I took the pictures in today’s post, I’ve found even broader stands of goldenrod in Austin.
Steve Schwartzman
October 12, 2020 at 7:30 AM
I’ve yet to see a nice field of goldenrod. The Brazoria refuge, where I found such lush stands of it last year, has only scattered plants in bloom, and I’ve not seen much along the roads. I suspect the weather’s slowed it down, and the flooding from Beta wiped out a lot of plant life. The difference between last year’s photos from Brazoria and this year’s is remarkable; more than goldenrod is missing. I’m going to give it a couple of weeks and see what develops. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy your reminders of how beautiful it is!
shoreacres
October 12, 2020 at 6:13 AM
Thanks for the reminder of all that we saw at Brazoria last fall. Too bad this year’s goldenrod there isn’t up to last year’s standards (etymologically speaking, standard meant literally ‘stand hard,’ which Brazoria’s goldenrods didn’t do). Oh well, that’s normal in nature, especially after a hurricane. I remember that the best goldenrod I saw in your part of the state last year was at Anahuac; I wonder whether it suffered as much from the storm as Brazoria did.
Steve Schwartzman
October 12, 2020 at 7:39 AM
We had enormous fields of goldenrod through September into early October.
MichaelStephenWills
October 12, 2020 at 6:36 AM
I remember your mentioning that. You’ve also reminded me of the good stands of goldenrod we saw in Pennsylvania and New York a couple of decades ago.
Steve Schwartzman
October 12, 2020 at 7:42 AM
Your sea of yellow makes me feel mellow.
Peter Klopp
October 12, 2020 at 9:32 AM
Then you must be a hale and hearty fellow.
Steve Schwartzman
October 12, 2020 at 10:26 AM
Quite rightly!
krikitarts
October 13, 2020 at 1:48 AM
That song turns out to have been more suggestive than I (we?) ever knew:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellow_Yellow
Steve Schwartzman
October 13, 2020 at 6:58 AM
Oh, dearie dear, it may be better to let some of the old dogs stay asleep.
krikitarts
October 14, 2020 at 4:08 AM
Requiescat in somno.
Steve Schwartzman
October 14, 2020 at 6:53 AM
That is a beautiful stand of goldenrod, one of my favorite flowers.
Lavinia Ross
October 12, 2020 at 9:56 AM
And I’ll stand by your comment about this stand of goldenrod.
Steve Schwartzman
October 12, 2020 at 10:28 AM
By the way, I searched your blog and didn’t find any reference to goldenrod. There are several species in the northwest, but perhaps none abound in your area. You may be remembering how things were back in the east.
Steve Schwartzman
October 12, 2020 at 10:38 AM
Haven’t seen any wild out here, only in garden centers.
Lavinia Ross
October 13, 2020 at 11:27 AM
I remember stands of goldenrod, and yarrow, from back east.
Lavinia Ross
October 13, 2020 at 11:27 AM
Maybe you can plant some goldenrod that’s native to your area. You can check these maps to see which species are marked for you county:
http://bonap.net/Napa/TaxonMaps/Genus/County/Solidago
Steve Schwartzman
October 13, 2020 at 1:11 PM
Oh so lovely to be enveloped by all this goldenrod, Steven, thank you.
Jet Eliot
October 12, 2020 at 10:03 AM
You’re welcome. This is one of the joys of October in Austin.
Steve Schwartzman
October 12, 2020 at 10:30 AM
Happy yellow!
susurrus
October 12, 2020 at 10:11 AM
I approve your ritornello
In support of happy yellow.
Steve Schwartzman
October 12, 2020 at 10:34 AM
There are a lot of Goldenrod flowering here, and have been for a while, but it is very hard to tell what species (s). So many similarities between several of the species that grow here in Missouri.
The Belmont Rooster
October 12, 2020 at 12:03 PM
I have trouble telling apart the goldenrod species here, too. Fortunately that doesn’t stop me from taking pictures of these colorful plants.
Steve Schwartzman
October 12, 2020 at 12:39 PM
Golden shots, Steve! That blue sky and the goldenrod, such a Texas autumn vignette!
Tina
October 12, 2020 at 2:39 PM
From goldenrod to golden shots, that’s a progression I approve. Blue sky often appears here as an isolating background, and in this case the sky’s color was also a great complement to that of the flowers. I saw excellent goldenrod in southeast Austin two days ago.
Steve Schwartzman
October 12, 2020 at 6:05 PM
I love the textures as well as the abundant yellow in these photos.
artsofmay
October 12, 2020 at 8:50 PM
I agree with you that the textures add a lot to the abundant bright yellow.
Steve Schwartzman
October 12, 2020 at 8:54 PM
Fall in the northeast was, to me, purple and yellow season. That’s some glorious yellow!
bluebrightly
October 13, 2020 at 11:50 AM
We don’t have much purple autumn foliage here, but as you said, our yellow is glorious.
Steve Schwartzman
October 13, 2020 at 3:02 PM
Great texture. With people allergic to goldenrod it gets a bad rap. It’s actually very pretty and adds to the autumn scenery.
denisebushphoto
October 14, 2020 at 2:22 PM
It seems goldenrod took the rap for what’s actually caused by plants that bloom at the same time, namely ragweeds and sumpweeds. Here’s an article about that:
https://www.thespruce.com/am-i-allergic-to-goldenrod-1762269#
Steve Schwartzman
October 14, 2020 at 6:29 PM
[…] think most people’s fondness for goldenrod (Solidago sp.) comes from its cheery yellow or yellow-orange flower heads. Less often noticed is that its drying leaves are sometimes a good source of fall color. The top […]
Goldenrod as a source of colorful fall foliage | Portraits of Wildflowers
December 9, 2021 at 4:31 AM