Velvet Leaf Senna

Senna lindheimeriana

Also called Lindheimer Senna

Hills guide picknative · Hill Country

Velvet Leaf Senna is a perennial native to the Texas Hill Country that grows 3–4 ft tall and 3–4 ft wide. It wants full sun or part shade and low water, and handles caliche soil. Blooms yellow in Aug–Oct. Deer rarely browse it. Good for birds and butterflies.

Will it grow in your yard?

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From our guide

Village of the Hills

Upright perennial with soft velvety gray-green leaves and yellow flower spikes in late summer.

Why it works here

The foliage texture alone earns it a place, and it blooms when little else does. Sulphur butterfly host.

Watch out

Reseeds freely. Freezes back to the ground.

The facts

6 sources

Type: Perennial
Sun: Full sun to part shade (3+ hrs)
Water: Low
Height: 3–4 ft
Spread: 3–4 ft
Bloom: Aug–Oct · yellow
Foliage: Deciduous
Soil: Takes caliche · recorded on sand, rocky, limestone, well drained, dry
Deer: High — deer rarely browse it. Velvety foliage with compounds deer avoid.
Wildlife: Supports birds and butterflies

Size, sun, water and foliage from the Village of the Hills guide; the rest resolved across sources.

Where it grows

Recorded in these EPA Level IV ecoregions in the Austin and Hill Country launch area:

Balcones CanyonlandsLlano UpliftEdwards Plateau Woodland

3,732 occurrence records in Central Texas (GBIF).

Can you buy it?

In the Village of the Hills guide, but not on the grower stock lists we read yet. Ask a native-plant nursery.

also grows from seed It starts readily from seed, so a packet from a native-seed supplier, or seed collected with permission, is often the easiest way to get a plant no nursery pots.