Training Goldenrod to be a Wonderful Garden Addition Without the Unruly Behavior

If you love goldenrod in the garden as much as I do but dislike the tall and gangly growth habit, you will be interested in my observations from this year.  I can't solve the problem of its spreading nature, goldenrod spreads and there's nothing we can do about that.  However, it can be trained to stay under two or three feet tall.  You just cut it in half.  When goldenrod is about 2 feet tall, cut the stalks in half.  From the cut it will produce 4 new stalks.  When those new stalks are 2 feet long, cut each of them in half.  And again each stalk will produce four new stalks.  After that, just let it grow until late summer.  Then cut them back again - this time at whatever length works for your garden - all the way to the second cut if you want.  They will bloom, don't worry that you are cutting off the bloom potential by pruning so late in the season. And each single plant of goldenrod will be an umbrella of blooms. Beautiful!