South Carolina now has an official state wildflower - the goldenrod.

Nancy Odom, the state wildflower chairman for the Garden Club of South Carolina, worked for more than two years on the project.

"I love flowers, and I thought we needed to produce a bigger interest in our native plantings in the state," said Odom, a Spartanburg master gardener.

So garden clubs around the state were asked to have programs on wildflowers and then vote on their choice for the state wildflower.

The top vote-getter was Queen Anne's Lace - but that's not native to the state. The next most popular was the goldenrod.

"It's got a lot going for it," Odom said. "It's a beautiful flower. You can dry it and use in flower design. It's perfect for roadsides. It takes heat, drought, poor soil. It's a long-lived perennial."

It also blooms in the fall, making it a good transition from the state flower - the Carolina jessamine - which blooms in spring.

It's a wonderful flower for butterflies, which can live their whole life cycle on the goldenrod.

And that old wives' tale about goldenrod's causing allergies? Just not true, Odom said. Goldenrod often gets the blame for the pollen in ragweed.

The goldenrod is already growing in meadows and along the sides of highways, and the state has 57 varieties.

North Carolina, Georgia and Florida already had state wildflowers. And with Gov. Mark Sanford's signature May 14, South Carolina has one, too.