This afternoon the weather was wonderful and in the 70s and I started some Candlelabra Tree seeds from a bunch of pods I collected and dried from last summer. This fast growing tropical plant can grow into a small tree in one season here, and I love it as do our butterflies. It is called many names such as Candlelabra Tree, Candlestick Bush, Golden Candle Tree, Emperor's Candles, etc., and in Latin often classified as cassia alata or senna alata. It makes a lot of seeds and I will share babies from the flat I planted today.
10 comments:
What a glorious Candelabra tree, Jon ... and your pictures are incredible.
Sincerely,
Janie
Sigh. You southern-warm-place gardeners are taunting me with your incredible trees and flowers. Meanwhile, I have piles of snow 3-feet deep or more. I'm going to sulk until spring. Or just keep reading blogs as a cheap way of escaping. :-)
Jon, I love this plant. I remember seeing these planted en masse on the neutral grounds in New Orleans when I was about eight years old. Ever since then, I have been fascinated by this plant. My sister gave me a plant last year, and it seems to have survived our freezes which really surprised me. I didn't get any seeds from mine, but she assures me she has some for me. Good luck with your seedlings.
I planted some seeds, too. the cassia hasn't come up, but some purple swirl daturas have.
Wow! I had never heard of this plant. It's gorgeous. I wonder if it could work as an annual or would overwinter.
Thanks, y'all for dropping by. Jodi, I don't envy your snow at all. In fact, I dislike even frost, but hang in there, eventually spring will arrive. Jan, I remember Candletrees in the neutral grounds in New Orleans years ago also...they were glorious I thought. I hope yours comes up this spring from the roots..sometimes they will do so when it gets really warm in May. Jean, these seeds sometimes are very slow to come up..good luck with yours. EAL, yes, lots of people, including me, grow them as annuals. They get much too big and tall to overwinter unless you have a cathedral type greenhouse. I like how their leaves fold up every night like they are praying.
Jon
This is an interesting plant. I have several Senna artemisioides. The plants must be related since the genus is the same, but they look nothing alike. Do the flowers on the Senna alata have a strong fragrance?
Aiyana
Aiyana, The nectar of the golden yellow flowers attracts lots of hummingbirds, butterflies and some insects, but these are very tall tree-like shrubs and the flower stalks are high up, thus the name "Candlelabra Tree" so I have never noticed any fragrance emanating from them that reaches ground level...or my nose level.Thanks for dropping by and leaving your comment and question.
what a beautiful plant! I have never heard of it before. you have a real talent with gardening and photography!
thanks for sharing..
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Jessica
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