I don't know if your still down there, but stop and check out Olbrich Gardens in Madison on you way back to Illinois. I was there Saturday and was amazed at that place. The outdoor gardens are huge...tons of variety. Even has a huge Thai temple! Can't help you on the castor bean!

I'll do it next time. I was at Madison last Sunday afternoon.

Thanks for this info. :)

Update: I'll bring my family there on Oct 3 :)

Thanks for sharing!

The species plant like you see in the picture will grow very tall. These are around 15 ft, with leaves more than 4' across. The trunks are about 6" in diameter. They were from seed sown direct in the ground when soil temps reached 55*. The pic was taken in late Aug, and the plants grew another 2' taller than you see before frost took them. I'm guessing that I could easily have had plants 18' tall had I started them indoors & worked at watering & fertilizing. I really didn't TRY to get them this tall - they did it even in spite of considerable neglect. I've posted the picture before:
{{gwi:3277}}

Look me up in the spring if you remember & I'll send you some seeds.

Al

Just saw your post!

Awesome tapla! We can swap in spring. :) I have few red castor bean seeds.

These pics are from '08. This year I grew the smaller 'Carmencita Red' and 'Gibsonii', so I'll have lots of seeds from the more diminutive & red plants. I actually got the seeds for the plants in the picture from a local farm supply store. They have them every year and are very reasonable, so I'll be happy to purchase and send you some of those, too.

Al

wow. that is beautiful and now on my.. I gotta get that list.

Al, what is that lovely variegated plant in front of the Castor Bean?

Perfect foil for green Castor.

Assume it's not hardy here but would like to investigate it. I could use an upright, variegated plant in a couple spots.

Thanks!

Leslie

Hi, Leslie ........ and apologies for the cross-chatter to the OP.
Brugmansia 'Variegata' is the plant in the foreground. It's not hardy, of course, but I've over-wintered late summer cuttings for several years, though it never quite got to bloom stage. It would get buds, but the frost always took the plant before it could bloom, so I shipped some cuttings to a friend in CA and scrapped it. Even if only grown for its foliage it is still an attractive plant, though. You could prolly get it to bloom for you - especially if you over-wintered the whole plant, instead of taking cuttings as I did.

Al

I've been thinking about growing castor beans to discourage voles, which are a plague in my yard, but am hesitant because of the toxicity, and having grandchildren who visit occasionally. Do any of you think the toxicity is much of a problem, do you have trouble with the plant itself or getting rid of the plant after it dies down after frost? Is it easy to collect the seeds before they can scatter?

Thanks for plant ID, Al.

I like the 'Carmencita Red' coloration but don't have space with enough sunlight to give it a home.

Collecting seeds can be hard for some varieties as when they ripen the pod explodes but most will mature in their pods. Never have had a problem with the plant. Getting rid of the plant after a freeze may amount to having to chop it down and cut up as you know some grow very large. The toxicity isn't that bad. One wife after reading about the "poison" quality of the plant decided to try and murder her husband, it made his sick after a while. She went prison for attempted murder. My dogs nor my cats ever have any problems, they just aren't interested. My children or the neighbors never bother with the plant. I did grow one beside our home on the north side and it did much better, I believe because of our hot weather here in the summer. It was planted less than a foot from the garage and I never saw a problem but it only got to be about 8' tall and the seeds broadcast out into the yard where some tried to grow before being mowed down. I did once have a green Caster Bean and its pods looked like a chestnut husk with seeds the size of a jellybean. Those do not cast their seeds and are easy to harvest. I don't know what variety I have now but the seeds are much smaller and explode when ripe so I had to watch and as soon as they start to turn I would pick them and store in a envelope where they would explode within the day.
Paul

Thanks, Paul, they sound like an interesting plant to grow and I am tempted at least for the sake of trying to poison voles. My brother in Houston did have an incident of a dog that got poisoned by eating a castor bean, I forget what the outcome was. It sounds like normal handling is safe enough.

I wouldn't put all my eggs in that basket Hemnancy. The sites that have a ring of legitimacy to them, like universities that have none testing on the effectiveness of the beans and plants as a repellent for a variety of small mammals and rodents, voles specifically among them, have reported both beans and plants as ineffective.

If you want to see how to control voles via a rodenticide, contact me off forum and I'll share the product and a picture/description of easily made dispenser that keeps non-target animals from accidentally ingesting. The only time I ever have trouble with voles over the winter is if I'm too lazy (or forget) to fill the dispensers in the fall.

Al

Nice Castor bean plant in the pic. Just wanted to inform people that my dachshund nearly died from eating 2 or 3 beans I had harvested for sowing. I put them on the BBQ and forgot about them. The wind must have blown them off. The dog ate them, and almost died. We took her to the vets, she needed IV, and she pulled through. Needless to say I learned a costly mistake. So yeah.....the beans are quite toxic to children and smaller animals.

Holy heck, Al. I've never seen such an annual monstrosity. I've only grown the more dwarf castor beans, but have seen lots of pictures. I've never seen one nearly that huge. It's beautiful. Man, it is tempting.

I am always kind of -intrigued I guess- by folks who don't want to grow poisonous plants because of kids. Do your kids/grandkids actually eat your plants?

Karen

Holy mother of God Al, that plant is Huge. The gardens are beautiful but what else would be expect from you.

Ohh! Thanks guys! I've been on sort of a "vacation". ;o) I actually took that pic to show a friend the variegated brug in the foreground. The pic was taken in early Aug, so those plants grew at least another 3' before the frost got 'em.

Here's a picture of the leaves from the back side with the added bonus of a little Impatiens I've had for several years and am quite fond of:

{{gwi:3274}}

OK ..... so I lied. It's really a pic of the Impatiens with CB leaves as a backdrop. ;o) Nice blooms, huh? I LOVE that little plant!

Al

Al, you can tell your friends I said "That's the biggest one I've ever seen!"

Karen