Senna corymbosa

Senna corymbosa, the Buttercup Bush, is a large broad South American shrub with pinnate leaves and racemes of bright yellow flowers. It is fast growing and forms a broad rounded shape that responds vigourously to pruning with a dramatic display of its distinctive five-petaled flowers that are a magnet to pollinators.

Although it is cold-tolerant and will take a few degrees of frost it is not hardy in Great Britain except in frost-free coastal and estuarine areas along the South Coast and in some pockets in the west that are favoured by the Gulf Stream. It may survive with protection in sunny very sheltered corners of urban London but it is best treated as tender and grown in a large container and brought indoors in the winter to a warm glasshouse or conservatory. It can often lose its leaves in periods of cold weather and all watering should stop during the winter to give it a rest.