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Carolina Gardening

Senna Bicapsularis, Winter Cassia, Christmas Senna

18 years ago

I just returned from a Thanksgiving vacation in Charleston, SC. I drove around the Battery to purposely find plants I was not familiar with- and found this gorgeous shrub/tree! I immediately went to a nursery and after a few descriptions bought two one gallon plants in bloom. GORGEOUS plant! It is not often that I find something so striking that I am unfamiliar with. Now that I am home in South Charlotte, I am investigating sites online to be sure of the best planting possibilities. For now I plan to plant in full sun where I can easily water but with good drainage. Has anybody else has success with this plant in mid-to-western NC? Everything says it is typically Zone 8, but I am going to do my best to make these happy in Zone 7. I also wonder if one could be a happy houseplant for a few months while in bloom?

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Comments (3)

lavendargrrl
18 years ago
I've seen several references to that plant being hardy zones 9 - 11, and a couple referring to 8b. If I had to bet, you're not going to be successful keeping that outdoors in Charlotte, being zone 7b. I'm not sure what kind of success you might have with it in a container that you can move indoors - or at least to a basement or garage. It sounds kind of large for that to me (being a multi-stemmed upright shrub to small tree), but maybe if you have a good sized container and plenty of room, you'll have good luck.

I wouldn't plant it outdoors right now for sure, though.

I did read that it is easily propagated by seed if you boil the seeds before planting. Maybe you could keep it going that way if it gets killed with the cold by starting new plants by seed indoors for the winter.

~Angie
brenda_near_eno
18 years ago
I grew 2 Senna corymbosa from seed this year - easy, I did not pretreat at all. I dug one and put it in coldframe in quart pot - so far it's hanging in there. My other one left in the garden bit the dust in a hurry. As Angie said, there is no way you should put it out now - even if it could make a 7b winter, it wouldn't have time to adjust or grow some roots outdoors now. It might make it in the garage, but I think you are going to lose the blooms any way you slice it unfortunately.
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surrealgarden
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks for the help- I brought them inside and am enjoying the blooms. I'll pamper them until warmth, then do what I can to encourage them in the yard.

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