Candlestick Plant
Cassia alata
… for tropical towers topped with late summer blooms
Common name: Candlestick Plant
Latin Name: Cassia alata
Design Tip: Make plans for growing this late-summer bloomer early. Set out young candlestick plants into a sunny spot in the middle or back of a mixed border to bloom with fall perennials. Or in tropical designs, the large-scale foliage contributes a texture contrast to elephant ears, tall grasses, banana leaves, caster plants and cannas.
Size and Hardiness: It becomes a massive tree in its native tropics, but is a summer annual in areas with winter weather, rising 8 to 10 feet before ending with first frost.
Flowers: Candelabras of upright racemes open golden blooms for several weeks in late summer and fall, some years lasting up to two months before the first freeze.
Foliage: The massive compound green fronds contribute a tropical element.
Soil: Being a jungle native, it relishes heavy, rich, moist earth.
Light Exposure: It will tolerate part-day sun, but performs better in full sun
Snippets: This is a traffic stopper worth replacing every year. If grown from seed, they need be started as early as January in a warm sunny location, to mature to blooming age before first frost. When its seedpods are frost-nipped in the bud before maturing in the Metroplex climate, it is necessary to plant purchased starts the following year. They are usually available at local nurseries in 4" or 1-gallon size pots in early summer. Botanists have reclassified Cassia alata to Senna alata, but it continues to be marketed as "Cassia" by growers and retailers.
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Cultivated, photographed and written
by Maggie Ross McNeely in Fort Worth, Texas
All rights reserved