All in the Family

Short’s goldenrod is in full bloom in my garden now.

I wrote about it years ago, when I first got it, about how it is one of the rarest flowers in the world. Even the Nature Conservancy says so in an article they wrote in 2018.

The first link above explains how I have it growing in my garden, even though it is rare.

You, too, could grow it in your garden (if you live in the right plant hardiness zone). Just search for Solidago shortii ‘Solar Cascade.’ It is still endangered in its native habitat (see Nature Conservancy article above) but botanists at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden propagated some of it and made it available to “in the trade” as they say.

All that is a nice story to tell, and I’ve probably repeated it once too many times (insert eye roll), and I didn’t mean to tell it today, but dog gone it, it’s hard to mention Short’s goldenrod without also mentioning its back story.

Anyway, this post is really about what plant family goldenrod is in, and the only goldenrod in my garden right now for a picture is Short’s goldenrod, hence the story, and here I go again explaining too much. Enough.

What plant family is goldenrod in?

Ready to find out?

It’s in Asteraceae, the aster or daisy family.

Which means it’s closely related, sort of, to…

Sunflowers!

And zinnias too!

And now you are thinking, “No way, Carol. They don’t look a thing like sunflowers and zinnias.

Yes, they do.

Look up close at that goldenrod.

Closer…

Those stems of flowers look like clusters of tiny yellow daises, don’t they?

I rest my case. Or you can do an online search to confirm I am correct on the plant family for goldenrod. What a family reunion it must be when they all get together.

Thanks, as always, for reading down to the end of this post. Several people have mentioned how they like to hear from the garden fairies. What? And not me? Okay, I understand. I’m not offended, miffed, or otherwise insulted, as they would be. They are garden fairies. They were going to post on Sunday, but my website had some technical difficulties when they were ready to write, so they went off in a huff somewhere. I’ll try to get them to write again “real soon.” Thank you for your patience while I do so!