As the name promises, this is one of the first goldenrods to bloom — sometimes as early as late June — filling that mid-summer gap before most other goldenrods come into their own. The flowers burst from stiff, nearly unbranched stems in elegant firework-like arching plumes of bright golden-yellow, creating a striking vase-shaped display above a generous rosette of large lance-shaped basal leaves. A tough and highly adaptable plant, Early Goldenrod thrives in poor, dry, rocky, gravelly and clay soils where richer plants would sulk. As a keystone genus, it supports 120+ species of Lepidoptera larvae and provides essential nectar and pollen to native bees, honeybees, butterflies and songbirds. Native Americans used it medicinally to treat fever, nausea and digestive ailments.