> If you don't have Knapp weed, and allready have some golden rod, I would go with the Knapp weed, It blooms in july and aug. up here, blooms for a long time, and really gets the girls going for the golden rod flow. and yes it is invasive, so the seed is probably not sold, but I'm sure it is available from someone. 

Knapweed is a variety of Centaurea. Most of these are excellent bee plants so it is entirely possible to plant Centaurea without resorting to one of the invasive types.

> Knapweed belongs to Centaurea, a genus of between 350 and 600 species of herbaceous thistle-like flowering plants in the family Asteraceae.  In parts of North America, Diffuse Knapweed (C. diffusa), Spotted Knapweed (C. maculosa) and Yellow Starthistle (C. solstitialis) cause severe problems in agriculture due to their uncontrolled spread. 

> Some species are cultivated as ornamental plants in gardens. As regards other aspects of popular culture, Cornflower (C. cyanus) is the floral emblem of Östergötland province (Sweden). It is also the national flower of Estonia.

Knotweed is a member of the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae. Again, there are invasives in this family but some very desirable non-invasive ones. I planted Persicaria in my year, it blooms for a very long time. Unfortunately, it attracted few insects.

> Polygonaceae is a family of flowering plants known informally as the "knotweed family" or "smartweed family"— "buckwheat family" in the United States. The name is based on the genus Polygonum and refers to the many swollen nodes that the stems of some species have. It is derived from Greek; poly means many and goni means knee or joint.

An example of a native Polygonum:

> Polygonum bistortoides (American bistort, western bistort, smokeweed or mountain meadow knotweed)

> It is distributed throughout the Mountain West in North America from Alaska and British Columbia south into California and east into the Rocky Mountains. The plant grows from montane foothills to above the timberline, although plants growing above 7,500 feet are smaller and seldom reach more than 12 inches in height. Plants in other areas may reach over half a meter-1.5 feet tall. The leaves are leathery and up to 40 centimeters long, and are mostly basal on the stem. The dense cylindrical to oblong inflorescence is packed with small white to pinkish flowers, each a few millimeters wide and with protruding stamens. American bistort was an important food plant used by American Indians living in the Mountain West, and the roots are edible either raw or fire-roasted with a flavor resembling chestnuts. The seeds can be dried and ground into flour and used to make bread. They were also roasted and eaten as a cracked grain.

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