Yellow flowering desert senna in San Antonio
Hey, all you knowledgeable gardeners in the San Antonio area. What is this GORGEOUS flowering shrub? Update: Thank you all for the ID suggestions! The consensus is that it’s desert cassia, also known as desert senna or green feathery senna (Senna nemophila), an Australian native that is extremely heat and drought tolerant and hardy to perhaps 10F in dry regions, perhaps 20F in wetter climates.
I spotted a row of it in full bloom in a parking lot near the San Antonio Botanical Garden two weekends ago. Is it a desert shrub of some kind?
Who needs forsythia when you could have this?
Upcoming: Lawn Gone! talk and book-signing, this Saturday
Hey, Texas Hill Country peeps! Please join me this Saturday at 10 am at Backbone Valley Nursery in Marble Falls for my talk, “Lawn Alternatives for Central Texas” and a Lawn Gone! book-signing. I don’t know about you, but since it’s bluebonnet season, I’m going to take a little wildflower-peeping drive while I’m out there.
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It looks like European Gorse.. See if these pictures look like it..
http://www.plant-pictures.net/0274-ulex-europaeus-picture.aspx
https://www.google.com/search?q=European+Gorse&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=b4y&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=fflb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=MHhIUYyeMZKiqwGi24GoDw&ved=0CEYQsAQ&biw=960&bih=470
The yellow flowering shrub may be Senna Sturtii. The only reason I know anything about it is that I purchased a baby Senna sturtii at the San Antonio Botanical Garden plant sale late last year. I had no idea it would put on that big of a show. Beautiful!
Ragna
I was going to email this to Ragna but I see she already answered!
Forsythia is a beautiful spring plant that I do miss living here. What a great substitute.
Cassia. We grow it here in Arizona, blooms yellow, smells nice. Grows easily. Not much water, full sun.
I love that plant – It is in the medical center here in a few places and it is doing fabulous. Although the plants I speak of I know have yet to see a deep prolonged freeze…they are 2 years old and approx 4 ft by 4ft…maybe a little less and they remain in perfect form, like they were trimmed but they never have been….
It’s senna nemophila – see http://www.mswn.com/plants/database/plant/senna-nemophila/ But before you think I’m some sort of plant id savant, I have to tell you that I cheated by asking David Rodriguez, the Extension agent in Bexar County who works with SABG.
I’ve got to get me one or 20 of those! I like it! And temperature tolerances to good too. I thought it was a Senna artemisioides cultivar but sounds like Vicki got it. Very cool.
That’s Desert Senna. You can get it at Barton Springs Nursery.
Pea family for sure, is genista another name for gorse and senna?
Cytisus scoparius, the Common Broom and Scotch Broom,
Thats what we have in our backyard growing wild here in Northern California
I believe this is Witches Broom which is in the Pea family. The nurseries in SAT sell them as well as HEB. 🙂 Pamie G.
This of course is not to be confused with the plant disease “witches broom”!
Pam, I saw this in bloom couple days ago at Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden, so your post is timely! Consensus seems to be Desert senna, Cassia nemophila.
Definitely a cassia. I have several. I live in Phoenix, Never water them. They survive 120+ degree heat, we’ve had freezes down in the teens, didn’t bother them. And in the spring, they are covered in yellow flowers that smell like heaven. And then their seeds sprout all over the yard, but they are easy to pull up when they’re still small. I had one blow completely over in a windstorm, pull most of the roots out of the ground, and break the trunk almost completely, and its still growing and blooming about 6 years later. (I didn’t try to replant or do anything to it because I thought it would die, so its a bit lopsided, but its still going strong)
Thank you all for the ID suggestions! The consensus is that it’s desert cassia, also known as desert senna or green feathery senna (Senna nemophila), an Australian native that is extremely heat and drought tolerant and hardy to perhaps 10F in dry regions, perhaps 20F in wetter climates. —Pam
It is surely a Senna sturtii, as it has a bright yellow flowers that are followed by rusty brown flat pods that may be considered attractive to some but undesirable to others. Often the plants are clipped after flowering to eliminate the pods and reduce litter. This annual shaping also helps to keep this form more dense. This all purpose shrub can stand as a single specimen, in groups or as an informal hedge. Good for shrub border.
I looked at online pics of the S. sturtii, Nelson, and must disagree. This senna has much finer, needle-like leaves than the sturtii. They seem like close cousins though. Thanks for your comment. —Pam
Whatever it is…it certainly looks happy 🙂