Virginia ecotype
- Duration: Perennial
- Habit: Arching, clumping, naturalizing
- Size: 1 - 3 ft. high / wide
- Flowering time: July, Aug, Sep, Oct
- Bloom color: Yellow
- Habitat: Dry savannas and dappled woods, pinelands, hillsides
- Moisture: Average to dry
- Light: Full to part sun
- Soils: Clay, loamy, sandy, gravely
- Uses: prairie restoration, pollinator garden, slopes and hillsides, dry to average dappled woodland gardens
Solidago pinetorum (Pineywoods goldenrod)
Small's goldenrod, also called pineland goldenrod or Pineywoods goldenrod, is one of the earliest flowering goldenrods of the Virginia region. With a very narrow native range that includes the Piedmont and Coastal Plain of Virginia and North Carolina, this goldenrod is rare elsewhere in the states. It tends to be found in acidic soils of pine-oak forests or woodland edges, hence "pineywoods."
It can be distinguished from other goldenrods by shorter height, a small 3 foot or less stature. Its clump of narrow and smooth leaves resemble common garden groundcovers like liriope, until they bloom with long arching stems tipped with brush-like panicles of bright small yellow blooms. Flowering begins as early as June and usually hits full swing in July. By fall, the seedheads tend to have a brown/buttery color compared to the snowy white fluff of other goldenrods.
Goldenrod blooms support many uncommon and rare specialist bees, which only feed on the nectar and pollen of a select few flowering plants to survive. The genus is also considered a keystone plant, supporting a wide range of native insects as a larval host species.
Pineywoods goldenrod grows in poor and sandy soils of roadsides and hillsides, and it plays well in a wild meadow or dry prairie setting with other goldenrods, asters, native grasses, and drought tolerant wildflowers. Great for natural area restorations of the Piedmont or Coastal Plain. Also good for woodland edges and hillsides, so it can take part sun and steep typography, with its strong root system holding onto soil.