Virginia ecotype
Duration: Perennial
Habit: Upright, clump-forming, sometimes slowly colony-forming
Size: 2 to 3 feet tall; 1 to 2 feet wide
Flowering Time: August to October
Bloom Color: White with cream-yellow centers
Habitat: Dry open woods, glades, prairies, rocky slopes, and roadsides
Moisture: Dry to average; prefers well-drained soils
Light: Full sun to part shade, best showing in full sun
Soils: Sandy, rocky, or loamy soils; adaptable so long as well draining
Uses: Pollinator gardens, dry meadow plantings, erosion control on dry slopes, difficult to plant areas in high sun or dry acidic soils, container plants
Solidago bicolor (Silverrod)
Solidago bicolor is known as white goldenrod, or silverrod. Unlike most goldenrods, easily identified in the fall by their bright yellow blooms, Solidago bicolor produces tight clusters of small white flowers, making it one of the most unusual members of the genus.
Silverrod typically grows in dry, open habitats such as rocky woods, pine barrens, sandhills, glades, and well-drained slopes, often thriving in nutrient-poor or sandy and sometimes rocky soils. It is also well adapted to garden soils so long as they are well draining. Silverrod also has surprising shade tolerance not seen among most other goldenrods, so it is both shade and drought tolerant.
White goldenrod is an important late-season resource for pollinators, as are other goldenrods. They support native bees, wasps, beetles, and butterflies in the days preceding winter. Like other species in the genus, it serves as a host plant for numerous specialized insects, including goldenrod gall-forming flies and various moth and beetle larvae.
Solidago bicolor's tolerance for dry, acidic, and low-fertility soils makes it particularly valuable in restoration plantings and native gardens designed for challenging sites. This plant would prefer poor soil, and not heavily dense soils amended with compost.