Q: A friend of mine gave me some seeds of castor bean. I understand the plant is very poisonous but it is beautiful and I would like to grow it. Someone else told me it might be illegal to grow. Your ...

Dear Master Gardener: I was given a small plant as a gift last spring. It grew into a gigantic plant with striking leaves and spiky pink seed pods. I've learned it is a castor bean plant. I'd like to ...

Castor bean plants (Ricinus ommunis) are easy to grow from seed when provided with sun and moist, loamy soil. The seeds produce a vibrant plant with large, star-shaped foliage that can grow up to 10 ...

Hardy fuschias waiting to be planted since the Canby plant sale in the ground: check Miscellaneous sundry plants acquired in the past few weeks in the ground: check If I keep this up, what am I going ...

Sweltering heat and bright sunlight do not a tropical garden make, even if many common garden plants, from marigolds to okra, do hail from the tropics. That tropical look comes from lush, bold foliage ...

Are castor bean seeds available? I haven't been able to find them for 20 years. I grew this large, colorful and extremely fast-growing plant when we lived in Wisconsin. Will it grow in this part of ...

Sweltering heat and bright sunlight do not a tropical garden make, even if many common garden plants, from marigolds to okra, do hail from the tropics. That tropical look comes from lush, bold foliage ...

Q: What can you tell me about the old-fashioned castor-bean plant? I believe my parents had them for shade for the chickens. Also, I planted several camellia seeds, but none sprouted. What's wrong? A: ...

Sweltering heat and bright sunlight do not a tropical garden make, even if many common garden plants, from marigolds to okra, do hail from the tropics. That tropical look comes from lush, bold foliage ...

Native to Africa, the castor bean plant (Ricinus communis), has been cultivated for nearly 4,000 years. The Egyptians grew it for lamp oil and Thomas Jefferson grew it to deter moles. It is now grown ...