Thank You, Goldenrod

My first meeting with Solidago when I was 16.

The first time I actually saw Goldenrod, I remember every detail about that long moment. I was riding in the golf-cart with my grandmother Jane, my mom’s mom, at our family land called Plum Hill. I’m not sure what we were out and about doing, probably just looking at things and taking in the fresh breath of Fall. I was about sixteen, and we were cruising down the grassy road in the early afternoon, and there was this large field of yellow. I remember thinking whoa, the Lowcountry grows something this beautiful? I limited fields of wildflowers to movies, California, and my imagination of some far off land.

Later on that same golf-cart ride, I encountered Ageratum for the first time too, but there was something about the Goldenrod that really took me. It was abundant. It was bright. It was everywhere, and so damn beautiful.

Now to any of you reading this that claim you get allergies from Goldenrod, let me clarify you actually have a Ragweed allergy. They bloom at the same time, and Gold…