Plant Profile: Castor Bean Plant

Castor Bean Plant (Ricinus communis) is also known as the Castor Oil Plant. This exotic-looking member of the Spurge family is native to East Africa and is not in fact a bean at all.

This annual plant is grown for its tropical looks and drama in the garden. It can reach heights of 10 feet or more in a single growing season. The plant is then killed when temperatures dip below freezing.

It prefers full sun and rich, moist, but well-drained soil. It blooms in late summer and then forms spiky seed pods.

To plant them, direct-sow the seeds in warm soil – about two weeks after the last frost in spring. Give it plenty of water and fertilizer. If you want to limit its size, it can be pruned back.

Warning -- the seeds are extremely poisonous! It can self-sow about, but the seedlings are easy to identify and pull if you do not want them or you could cut off the seed pods before they disperse. Wear gloves when handling any part of this plant, as the foliage can cause skin irritation. Note that all parts of the plant are toxic if ingested.

The plant is cultivated for medicinal uses and is prized by beekeepers. In addition to the bountiful pollen the flowers produce, there are extra nectaries along the stems and leaf stalks.

Popular cultivars include the dark-leaved 'New Zealand Purple’, ‘Carmencita Rose’ with blue-green foliage and peachy seed pods, and ‘Red Spire’, which has red stems and seed pods with bronze leaves.

The video was produced by Washington Gardener Magazine.

Audio and Text by Kathy Jentz
Video and Editing by Melinda Thompson

Footage gathered at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD.

 

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Fenton Friday: Does This Look Like Okra to you?!

At the far back right corner of my community garden plot is a tall, red gorgeous plant with dramatic tropical leaves. It is supposed to be a Red Okra. It is not.

The seedling I was given this spring at a local plant swap was labeled as an Okra and it sure looked like one to me. As it grew over the summer, I patiently waited for the familiar hibiscus-like blossoms to form and the the horn-shaped fruit to form. I waited and waited and waited.

Finally, a few weeks ago, a flower started to form. The spike was not at all okra-like. It was more like the clusters of some tall grasses. And then it hit me. This is NO Red Okra! It is the Castor Bean plant. Not only is it NOT edible, but its seeds are quite deadly. WTH! What kind of careless person mixes these two plants up and passes them on to unsuspecting gardeners!

It is not the first bait-and-switch seedling mix-up I have been the victim of in my plot -- see last year's "flowering" Tobacco debacle here -- and it likely won't be the last. So, what to do in future? I generally trust fellow gardeners to be correct in their labeling, but from now on I should be more selective in quizzing gardeners at the local plant swaps I attend.

How about you, what mislabeling crimes have you suffered from in your garden?

About Fenton Friday: 

Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 6th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.)