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Snow covered branches
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Packera aurea (Golden or Heartleaf Ragwort)

Evergreen perennial Packera aurea (Golden or Heartleaf Ragwort) basal leaves emerge from melting snow cover in January.
Packera aurea (Golden or Heartleaf Ragwort) basal leaves in January
Packera aurea (Golden or Heartleaf Ragwort) flower buds and stalk leaves in March.
Packera aurea (Golden or Heartleaf Ragwort) basal and upper leaves and flowers
Packera aurea (Golden or Heartleaf Ragwort) flowers
Packera aurea (Golden or Heartleaf Ragwort) in residential border
Packera aurea en masse.
Packera aurea (Golden or Heartleaf Ragwort) pappi and seeds
Packera aurea (Golden or Heartleaf Ragwort) Potomac Overlook Regional Park
Packera aurea (Golden or Heartleaf Ragwort) at Norfolk Botanical Garden.

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Packera aurea Golden or Heartleaf Ragwort Tried and True Native Plant Selections for the Mid-Atlantic The golden flowers of this native, once classified as Senecio aureus, bloom for about three weeks in spring. After they fade, evergreen basal foliage serves as a pretty ground cover. This wildflower grows in moist fields and woods throughout much of the eastern United States and Canada. Ground Cover Foliage, Flowers (Buds, Close-up, En Masse), Fruit Height: 1⁄2–21⁄2 feet Spread: 1⁄2–11⁄2 feet Bloom Color: Yellow Characteristics Clump-forming, evergreen herbaceous perennial Toothed, heart-shaped, green basal leaves with a purple tinge beneath; alternate, sparse, petiolate or sessile, pinnatifid stem leaves Composite flowers with 6–16 yellow ray florets in terminal, flat-topped, corymbiform clusters on ca. 2-foot stems in April followed by one-seeded fruit (cypselae) with white barbellulate bristles (pappi) Spreads by self-seeding and, aggressively in optimal conditions, by rhizomes and often stolons Attributes Tolerates wet soil and seasonal flooding; no serious pests or diseases; deer rarely damage Blooms well even in shade Basal foliage may perform as evergreen ground cover with adequate moisture & in milder winters Ethnobotanic uses; may be harmful if ingested Attracts bees (small carpenter bee pictured) and butterflies; larval host to ~2 lepidopterans Growing and Maintenance Tips Soil Requirements: Average Light Requirements: Sun, Partial Shade, Shade Excellent Replacement for Alliaria petiolata - Garlic Mustard Euonymus fortunei - Wintercreeper Water Requirements: Moist, Wet Ficaria verna - Fig Buttercup, Lesser Celandine Remove flowering stems after bloom (and before seeds scatter) to control spread, if desired, and to keep mat looking tidy Hedera helix - English Ivy Liriope spicata - Creeping Liriope Use in woodland gardens and to control erosion Hardiness: USDA Zones 3a–8b Ornithogalum species - Star of Bethlehem Pachysandra terminalis - Japanese Pachysandra developed by Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia, serving Arlington and Alexandria Images by Elaine Mills (top left), Glencarlyn Library Garden and by Mary Free, Quarry Shade Garden and Arlington, VA

Tried and True Native Plant Selections 
for the Mid-Atlantic

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Packera aurea (Golden or Heartleaf Ragwort)

The golden flowers of this native,* once classified as Senecio aureus, bloom for about three weeks in spring. After they fade, evergreen basal foliage serves as a pretty ground cover. This wildflower grows in moist fields and woods throughout much of the eastern United States and Canada.

*You can view the VA counties in which it has been reported here.

Learn more about other Mid-Atlantic plants: 
Tried and True Native Plant Fact Sheets