American Sicklepod

Year-round

Coffee senna, also called sicklepod or coffeeweed, is a fast growing annual legume that reaches about two to three feet tall with clusters of small yellow flowers. Around Orlando it does well in full sun and the sandy, well-drained soils common to the Southern Coastal Plain, and it finishes its life cycle in one growing season, coming back from dropped seed rather than persisting as the same plant year to year.

• Give it full sun and well-drained soil, it thrives in the sandy ground common around Orlando.
• It is an annual, so each plant completes its life cycle in one season and next year's plants grow from seed it dropped, not from the same root.
• Sennas, including this species, are a well known host plant genus for cloudless sulphur and other sulphur butterfly caterpillars, so chewed leaves are usually a good sign rather than a pest problem.
• Peer-reviewed veterinary research has linked eating the seeds and foliage of this plant to toxic muscle and liver damage in cattle and other livestock, so it is worth keeping grazing animals and curious pets away from it.

Fall

Fall is when coffee senna's pods mature and the plant begins winding down for the year, though Orlando usually stays frost free until late November or early December.

• Let pods mature and dry on the plant if you want it to reseed for next year, or clip them off green before they split to keep volunteers from spreading into nearby beds.
• As days shorten, flowering slows and foliage starts to yellow, which is normal for an annual finishing its yearly cycle rather than a sign of disease.
• Because Orlando's first frost typically does not arrive until early December, plants often keep some green growth later into fall than they would farther north.

Cutting back the browning, spent stems once pods drop keeps the front bed looking tended through the cooler months.

Winter

Winter is the dormant season for coffee senna around Orlando. A frost will kill the top growth of mature plants, while seed already dropped in the soil waits to sprout again in spring.

• A hard freeze, when it comes, kills the top growth, this is expected for an annual and not a sign anything went wrong.
• Some pods may still be sitting on frost-killed stems in early winter, so this is a good time to knock ripe pods loose if you want extra seed for a specific spot.
• Because Orlando rarely sees more than a few light frosts each winter, plants in mild years can sometimes linger later into the season than they would farther north in the state.

Clearing the frost-killed stalks keeps the winter look of the bed neat until new seedlings come up in spring.

Spring

Spring is germination season for coffee senna around Orlando. Once the soil warms and the last frost risk has passed in early February, seedlings from last year's dropped seed begin coming up on their own.

• Direct sow or let self-sown seedlings come up once nights stay reliably above the mid 40s, which is usually by March in the Orlando area.
• Thin crowded seedlings so each plant has room to branch out, and move extras while they are still small if you want to replant them elsewhere.
• Full sun produces compact, sturdy growth, while shadier spots tend to make the stems leggy and floppy.

Summer

Summer is peak growth and bloom for coffee senna in central Florida. Established plants handle Orlando's heat, humidity, and afternoon thunderstorms without much help from you.

• Once rooted in, plants tolerate Orlando's summer heat and heavy afternoon rain without needing extra watering.
• Small yellow flowers open continuously from early summer into fall, each followed by a long curved seedpod.
• It is normal to see caterpillars feeding on the leaves during summer since this is a host plant genus for sulphur butterflies, and healthy plants generally shrug off the damage.

Deadheading spent flower clusters through summer keeps the bed looking tended and limits how many volunteer seedlings show up next year.