Thinning the Tall Goldenrod, Solidago altissma

Tall Goldenrod, Solidago altissma, started in my garden as just one cane. Actually I had a butterfly bush there and noticed one of the stems looked different. When I got rid of the butterfly bush I kept the stem and it turned out to be goldenrod.

The following year that one stem turned into 7, then 12, then 40, then ~100 and I've stopped counting ever since. I've kept them confined to an area that's only 3' by 6'. But they'd grow to be so much taller, 8' to 13' and often they'd fall over into the surrounding pathways. While I have thinned them in the past, this year I decided to pull as much as I could. I'm still going to have plants growing there, but hopefully I won't need to thin them for another few years.