Other Names:  Prairie Senna, Golden Cassia, Cassia fasciculate

Description:

An attractive annual featuring large, showy yellow flowers on upright plants that tend to sprawl as they get taller; leaves are sensitive to touch and daylight, folding in the evening or when disturbed; readily reseeds, ensuring future seasons of growth

Ornamental Features

Partridge Pea features showy yellow pea-like flowers with crimson eyes along the stems from early to late summer. Its attractive tiny oval compound leaves remain green in color with hints of powder blue throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Partridge Pea is a dense herbaceous annual with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its relatively fine texture sets it apart from other garden plants with less refined foliage.

This plant will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting birds, bees and butterflies to your yard. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

• Self-Seeding

Partridge Pea is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• General Garden Use
• Groundcover
• Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Partridge Pea will grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. This fast-growing annual will normally live for one full growing season, needing replacement the following year. However, this species tends to self-seed and may thereby endure for years in the garden if allowed.

This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It is very adaptable to both dry and moist growing conditions, but will not tolerate any standing water. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for a low-water garden or xeriscape application. This plant is capable of fixing its own nitrogen, which means that it is effectively self-fertilizing. As a result it should not require supplemental fertilizing, and if you do fertilize it, be sure to only use a low-nitrogen fertilizer to promote root growth. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This species is native to parts of North America..

Partridge Pea is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.