Your 2026 Garden

[Sally PB]

Goldenrods (quite a few native types out there) are actually a cornerstone species. Very beneficial for pollinators.

I used to hate goldenrod. Then I got honeybees. They love goldenrod. Now I love it too.

It blooms when there aren't a lot of flowers available for honeybees (beekeepers call this time "a dearth"). I don't let it get started in the garden, but I'm happy to see it all over the field.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

This is me with coneflowers. Theyre very pretty and the pollinators love them but they literally choked out everything else in my flower beds they even killed a hosta which is impressive haha and they self seed so they get worse every year so I will be cutting LOTS of them this summer so I can try to get some diversity back in my beds haha

I have some purple coneflower seeds in cardboard pots now, so this is useful to know. I really need to look up which part(s) of the plant are supposed to be used for tea. If I can cut it back for that early enough I hope it will be less of an issue.