Approximately 25 seeds per packet
Collected: 2024
Packaged: 2025
Germination code: i ♨ or ✄ 10-60C
Please refer to our germination codes and growing information for recommendations and tips.
Inoculant recommended: This species requires inoculant microbes to be present in the growing media to grow past the seedling phase. If growing in containers with a sterile potting mix, add a small (1 - 2 tablespoons) amount of native topsoil to the media to accomplish this. Often not needed if germinating directly into native soil or transplanting soon after germination. Inoculant strains are commercially available online.
Seed treatment recommended: This species germinates with a combination of scarification and cold moist stratification. For Baptisia, we recommend a 8-24 hour hot (not boiling) water soak, or a light sanding/knicking of the seed coat, followed by 10-60 days of cold stratification to break dormancy. Sowing without scarification in outdoor containers in the fall is an option, with germination typically occuring in the spring.
Legumes from seed take patience! Legumes such as Senna spend their first couple of years focusing on developing their stout, deep roots, and little attention is paid to growing foliage or flowering. Plants will be small from years 1-3, with adolescent plants growing larger and usually flowering in years 3-4 and beyond.
Seeds of this species appreciate being covered by a thin layer of soil or buried when sown to aid in germination. A general rule of thumb is to cover them with a layer of soil no more than two to three times their width. However, it's better to plant seeds shallow, and most seeds will germinate even if surface sown. (Optional) Sprinkling a layer of sterile sand or vermiculite overtop the soil and sown seeds usually won't negatively impact germination, and may help to maintain soil moisture and deter mold.
Senna marilandica (Maryland senna) Seed Packet
Virginia ecotype
Duration: Perennial
Habit: Upright, clumping
Size: 3-6 ft. high, half as wide
Flowering time: Jul, Aug
Bloom color: Yellow
Habitat: Open meadows, moist woods, along streams
Moisture: Average to moist, well draining
Light: Full sun, part sun
Soils: Sandy, loamy
Uses: single specimen, borders, screening, rain gardens, pollinator gardensMaryland senna is an upright, bushy native of the pea (Fabaceae) family of plants. In the wild, it grows in open, moist woods and average to wet meadows. We find it growing in shady deciduous forests as well, but it prefers bright full to part sun.
This plant has a tropical appearance with long, pinnate leaves. The sturdy stalks very rarely collapse. In mid summer the plant blossoms clusters of bright yellow blooms which are highly preferred by solitary bees and bumblebees for their bountiful and nutrient-rich pollen. Sennas produce no nectar for bees, but have extrafloral nectaries at points between flower and stalk, which draw in ants, parasitic wasps and predatory beetles. This adaption is believed to promote protection of the plants from pests.
In winter the hooked bean-like seed pods provide texture interest in the landscape. Maryland senna prefers moist, well draining sandy or loamy soils, but is adaptable and can be very drought and heat tolerant once established. Unlike many pea members, Maryland senna is not a nitrogen-fixing plant.
Senna marilandica and Senna hebecarpa are similar in almost every way except for slight differences in their flower morphology, and in their seeds and seedpods. S. marilandica seeds are rounded, and pods usually stay intact through much of winter, while S. hebecarpa seeds are flatter, asymetrical, and their pods disburse more readily.
Sennas are a host plant to several different native sulfur butterflies, which eat the leaves and flower buds. The seeds are a food source for turkey, quail and doves. The foliage is not preferred by herbevores like deer and rabbits, being toxic to mammals.