Ricinus communis, it’s highly toxic and my favorite plant in the garden, this week…

I adore the Castor Bean plant, and not because of it's toxicity. Although it’s certainly fun to mention that fact to the timid and watch them recoil in horror as though merely touching the leaves will cause instant death. As often seems to be the case with that which I adore, success with this plant has proven to be elusive. Hoping for a mammoth sized plant (like Heather’s) I’ve bought starter plants, started seeds myself and begged seedlings off a friend who is much more seed savvy than I.

Another blogger (I’m looking at you Mulchmaid) has already posted photos on Facebook of her begged gifted seedlings from that same friend blooming and looking huge. Here are mine…

Yes there are 3, and yes they average about 10” tall. I am a failure.

Knowing my history with this plant I hedged my bets and bought a pair of "last year's plants" (meaning he didn't sell them in 2013 and they were a bit larger and still available in 2014) at the Rare Plant Research open house last May. They were bigger than any seedling I've purchased in the past. Sure success right? Well this is the one in the front garden, it's nice but only a little over 2ft tall...

The one in the back garden though, it's my favorite and best ever Castor Bean...

Going strong and may eventually reach that monster size I've been hoping for...

So to refresh your memory that's 1 out of 5 that I'm feeling good about, not exactly winning odds in Vegas right?

The stats:

• bought simply as Ricinus communis, fancy varieties with great leaf color are available, look for them when buying seeds
• should eventually reach 5-15ft tall and 3-8ft wide (of course I'm hoping for the larger end of that spectrum)
• winter hardy in USDA Zones 9-11 where plants will thrive in rich, evenly moist, well-drained soil with full sun exposure - grown as annuals elsewhere (below Zone 9) and typically self seeding for future poison plant happiness (please please please let this happen in my garden!)
• plants can become somewhat weedy and spread aggressively in frost-free areas, as seen by anyone traveling on the highways near Fillmore, California.
• in the Euphorbiaceae family and native in Northeastern Africa to Middle East 

So that's what's got me smiling this week, what's doing it for you?

All material © 2009-2014 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.