About the project
Why native plants?
Which plants are best?
Create your own native planting
Plant fact sheets
Biological
control &
Natural enemies
Pollination and bees
Field days
Publications and teaching tools
What do "small," "medium" and "large" numbers mean?
They refer to how many insects were collected per meter square in a 30 second sample. Small means less than 2 insects; medium indicates 2 to 10 insects, and large suggests greater than 10 insects. |
home> native plant fact sheets> showy goldenrod
Enhancing Beneficial Insects with Native Plants
Showy goldenrod
Solidago speciosa Nutt. |
Group: Dicot
Family: Asteraceae
(aster)
Growth Habit: Forb/herb
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native, east of the Rocky Mountains
Natural Enemies Attracted: Large numbers of Orius insidiosus. Medium numbers of Chalcidoidea and Coccinellidae. Small numbers of Vespidae polistes, Ichneumonidae, Salticidae,
Thomisidae, Braconidae, Cynipoidea, Carabidae and Nabidae.
|
 |
Pests Attracted: Large numbers of lygus bugs. Medium numbers of leaf beetles and leafhoppers. Small numbers of weevils and froghoppers.
Bees attracted: High numbers (more than 5 bees per meter square in a 30 second sample) of bees including Andrenid bees, sweat bees, large carpenter bees, and bumble bees; also highly attractive to honey bees. |
| Species Notes: Yellow flower spikes bloom on plants that grow 3-5 ft tall. This species filled in well and many insects, including locust borer, were seen at it. Plants bloomed throughout September. This species was the seventh most attractive to natural enemies in the late season, with three times as many natural enemies as the grass control. |
| About the Plant Species Graph: Average number of beneficial insects collected at each plant species the week before, during, and after peak bloom, for plant species blooming from mid-August through early October (+ standard error). Showy goldenrod (Solidago speciosa) boxed in red. Bars for natural enemies are in green, bars for bees are in yellow. Bars for native plants are solid and nonnative plants are striped. The black line on the top graph shows the number of natural enemies in grass with no flowering plants (grass control). Plants are listed in order of peak bloom. |
 |
| Habitat: Includes full sun to partial sun, and very dry to average soil moisture. Naturally occurring in dry open sandy areas including prairies, field, and oak and jack pine savannas. May be found along roadsides and railroads. Also occurs in the Upper Peninsula in thin soil on high rock mountains. Cultivation and Management: Can be grown from seed (flowers in third year) or plug material (flowers in second year). Riddell’s goldenrod (Solidago riddellii) was also tested for attractiveness to natural enemies and attracted more natural enemies and fewer pests than showy goldenrod (S. speciosa). Showy goldenrod, however, is better suited to dry sites than Riddell’s goldenrod. Although Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) may become an agricultural pest, neither showy or Riddell’s goldenrod are known to be.
Availability: Species is available as seed, plug or container grown material from various native plant nurseries. Michigan Native Plant Producers Association
For more information:USDA-NRCS PLANTS database |
 |
 |
|
| This fact sheet prepared by: Doug Landis, Anna Fiedler, Department of Entomology, Michigan State University. Please note: The information presented at this web site should be considered a guideline to be adapted for your situation. MSU makes no warranty about the use of the information presented here. Read disclaimer. |
|
