Fireworks goldenrod is a native perennial whose fine, arching plumes of yellow flowers open in late summer and carry on into autumn, when little else is blooming. Those flowers are an important late nectar source for bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. Goldenrod does not cause hay fever; ragweed blooms at the same time and takes the blame.

Give it full sun and average garden soil, and it will manage without much fuss. Plant it in the back of a border, along a meadow edge, or where its airy spray can soften a fence line.