Southern Senna
Senna marilandica
Canary-yellow midsummer blooms over lush, tropical-looking leaves. Hosts sulfur butterflies and fixes nitrogen to improve your soil.
Typically 1 pint–1 gal · $9–$30 · final price at pickup
- Thu, Sep 248 AM – 4 PM
- Fri, Sep 258 AM – 4 PM
- Sat, Sep 268 AM – 2 PM
Bright yellow midsummer flowers that bumblebees love through buzz pollination, combined with sulphur butterfly hosting and nitrogen-fixing roots. ecologically one of the most productive perennials we carry.
Southern senna is a bold back-of-border perennial that covers itself in bright yellow flowers in midsummer, the kind of plant that stops garden visitors in their tracks in July. The large, pinnate leaves are lush and tropical-looking, and the canary-yellow blooms open in clusters all up the stem over a long season. Bumblebees visit almost exclusively for the pollen, using a technique called 'buzz pollination' where they vibrate the anthers at exactly the right frequency to release it. It's a host plant for sulfur butterflies whose caterpillars feed on the leaves. The flat seed pods that follow turn dark and persist on the stems through winter, providing structural interest and seeds for birds. This is a nitrogen-fixing plant that improves soil over time without any help from you.
A nursery-grown plant, ready for the ground.
Healthy, container-grown southern senna propagated on-site at Hill House from regional genetics. Includes a one-page care card. We make every effort to supply plants as listed; occasionally we substitute a similar species of equal value.
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Average
- Mature size
- 4–6 ft · 36–48 in wide
- Bloom time
- Midsummer, late summer
- Bloom color
- Yellow
- USDA zones
- 4–9
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Native range
- Eastern United States
Care notes for southern senna.
Full sun to part shade in average to moist soil. Cut back to ground in late fall. Self-seeds freely. remove seedlings if spread is not desired. Nitrogen fixer; no fertilizing needed. Spreads by seed and by clump expansion. May need staking in exposed windy locations at full height.
Pairs well with these.
Same light, same soil, same wildlife. Janet's picks to plant alongside southern senna.
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