During a seasonal drive to admire sights in nature, the roadsides were filled with purple and yellow. It was a sign fall was upon us. It was a beautiful sight and a welcome site for many pollinators.

This was especially true this year due to the drought situation. The yellow-blooming plant is the great and powerful goldenrod. It’s a pollinator dream and best of all, it doesn’t cause us to sneeze.

About 28 species of goldenrod (Solidago altissima) grow in abundance in uncut meadows and fields and remain in bloom until mid-October.

During that time, pollinators are busy preparing for the upcoming winter months, and goldenrod plays an important role in the diet and survival of these native pollinators.

Unfortunately, this perennial has been misunderstood and labeled as an allergen. Because of its heavy, sticky pollen, it requires bees for pollination. At the same time, our allergen nemesis — ragweed (Ambrosia artemislifolia) — blooms.

Because they bloom at the same time and goldenrod is the one that is visually easy to identify, it gets a bad rap. Ragweed grows up to 5 feet tall and has green flower heads that contain billions of yellow pollen that causes hay fever in a large part of the population.

Ragweed plants have seed dispersal carried by the wind. These types of plants are the ones that can cause allergic reactions.

A native perennial, goldenrod requires full sun and has simple, serrated alternate leaves approximately 3 to 4 inches long with clustered bilaterally symmetrical yellow flowers.

These flowers, at maturity in autumn, dry out and become brown, eventually dying back in winter, producing seeds for birds, while the roots remain dormant until spring.

The left-over round stems can become the place where bees often tuck themselves to spend the winter months.

This is the most important reason not to cut plant stems to the ground in the fall.

Also, when stems are left throughout the winter, gall-making insects lay their eggs in the stems of the plant, emerging in spring, which aids our beneficial insects.

Most parts of the goldenrod can be used for medicinal purposes. Its genus name, solidago, means “to make whole.”

Historically, Native Americans found it to help with respiratory diseases, and it also has been used as a diuretic along with aiding diabetes and tuberculosis. Goldenrod also was used as a dye for clothing.

Many years ago, some readers may remember Euell Gibbons from TV, an outdoorsman and health food advocate promoting the benefits of goldenrod tea leaves, aiding in relaxation and stress, but this is not a recommendation.

There are many types of goldenrod plume, such as pointed, branched, clublike, wand-like and flat-topped, among others. In gardens, it looks spectacular but must be controlled because of reseeding and rhizomes — underground roots.

The Chicago Botanic Gardens compared the performance of 25 species of hybrids. They found the best goldenrod performers were “Baby Sun,” “Goldkind” and “Golden Fleece”; however, the highest performer was “Fireworks.”

Performance was based on disease resistance, clumping, height and bountiful blooms. Many new cultivars continue to be discovered.

Planting native goldenrod in gardens provides vibrant color in late summer into fall. Additionally, it supplies nectar for insects and eventually seeds for many birds during our winter months.

For photos and more details about all of the possible goldenrod plants available, go to http://go.osu.edu/goldenrod.

Kane Shipka is an Ohio State University Extension Master Gardener Volunteer in Mahoning County.