Add this late summer / early fall bloomer to your wildflower or cottage garden and you'll be blessed with tall lovely stalks of bright yellow blooms just as many other flowers are beginning to fade. After the flowers fade, the large seed pods appear, which is the source of the name of this flower; seeds are ready when they rattle inside the pods when shaken.

This is an upright growing summer annual reaching 2'-3' high. The stems are coarse and well branched with each holding a tall stalk of yellow flowers in the late summer / early fall.  Widely distributed from Florida to Texas in coastal plain and piedmont; along roadsides and in fields.

To create natural beads remove the seeds before the pod dries and each side of the pod curls overnight; ends remain open, creating a long, natural bead looks like curled paper, but tough. Use for crafts, potpourri and a must for flower arrangements.

Crotalaria are adapted best to warm climates (zone 9 and warmer) with a long growing season. All parts of the plant are poisonous, whether green or dried in hay. The seeds are especially poisonous. Do not plant near livestock or near fields of hay intended for livestock.

Note: Depending on your soil, you may need to purchase 'cowpea inoculation' bacteria for proper growth of these plants.  I have never personally needed it in my area.  Here is more information about this on this site.