Goldenrod

This giant shrub grows up to 11 feet (3.4 meters) tall and lives for around 48 years. It is very resistant to disease but is susceptible to destructive insect infestation.

It has dozens of knobbly, straight stems covered in paper-thin, smooth, gray bark, and the wood inside is dark brown.

The branches are short, rigid and upright with thousands of twigs that and are covered with very large amounts of tiny, very narrow and elongated, leaves with jagged edges. The leaves themselves are either gold, or black with peach edges, durable and smooth.

In mid-spring it produces a thick sheet of giant, cream flowers with fan-like petals. They are hardy and have an intensely strong scent that smells like garlic.