Randy4ut

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saltydad

I have spring fever. Thanks!

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Men In Nursing- "A Few Good Men"

"Gardening is the purest of human pleasures." - Francis Bacon





"If by a liberal, they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind; someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions; someone who cares about the welfare of the people, their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties; someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicion that grips us; that is what they meant by a liberal, I am proud to be a liberal."
John F. Kennedy, September, 1960


http://flickr.com/photos/saltydad/ and
http://community.webshots.com/user/saltydad
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Patty in Wisc

Thank you Randy, I'm more than ready for summer now. Love the brugmansias - I have several. I have a Canary Island date palm same size & in same pot!! But, my yard doesn't look as nice as yours.

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Patty




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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

adrift

Randy,

Lovely plants. Is the purple thing castor bean?

K

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I've got to stop asking people, "How stupid can you be." People are taking it as a challenge.

mskitty38583

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Randy4ut

K, you are correct about the castor bean... It makes a GREAT tropical annual here in 7b. I am fixing to start this year's plants on Tuesday!!!

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Bch Grl

My cabin fever broke today!!!!
Tonight will be the 1st out of the last 6 to be above 20*..several in the 'teens!
Today is the first above 50* in the last 5 days(and this is FLORIDA?????).

Margie

Worm_Farmer

I thought it looked a lot like a caster bean, but mine NEVER got that big. Does yours also have the Hot Pink spikey flowers?

Randy4ut

Here are the two different types of castors I have tried...
The first one is from last summer and is the "purple leafed" castor:



This is the "regular" castor from 2007:



As you can plainly see, the regular is a much more vigorous plant than the "purple leafed" type. Both are about the exact same age. I like the look of the purple leafed type, but the overall size of the regular tends to make a more pronounced statement. As far as the red/pink prickly seed pods, yes, they both produced the same looking pod.

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Patty in Wisc

Some ppl call this the "terrorist" plant. The seeds are DEADLY...one ingested by a human will kill him! Wash your hands when handeling. I forget the name of the deadly chemical that's in it.

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Patty




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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

Patty in Wisc

I didn't know of these 2 kinds. I grew the Normal one for last 3 years but the seeds were bad last summer. They shriveled up & I don't know why. I just love Caster Bean!

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Patty




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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

Randy4ut

RICIN!!!

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JCDerrick

You have a beautiful yard Randy.

And you all just helped me ID a mystery plant we got last fall. Until today I had no idea what the castors were at all. A older lady who is a friend of my mom gave us a bunch of brugs last November right before the first bad frost. She also gave us a castor seed pod off a few of her huge castors. We took them bc it looked cool - a few weeks after bringing the spiked seed pod home and putting it on the table, half of them exploded (it's a miracle the cats didn't eat one - we had no idea they were deadly, we kinda were amazed at how pretty the seeds were). We've just run around and collected them all to make sure they are away from the pets. How long do they take to start growing - and should I start them indoors in pots or can I just drop the seeds in the ground next spring (if so, how many should I seeds should I sow)? I'll be sure to keep these in the backyard only - away from the neighborhood kids.

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Malama 'Aina



Normal Jan. Low: 34°F, Normal Jul High: 92°F
Coldest: 16-20°F, Warmest: 98-103°F
Annual Precip: 48 inches

Randy4ut

John, They are easy to germinate. I soak them for a day or two before I start them indoors. I will be starting mine this week. You can sow them outside and they would do fine, I am sure. I like to get them started early to get as much height as I can on them each year. I expect I get at least an 80% germination rate from them. As far as how many to start depends on how much area you are wanting them to occupy. Each one of my plants grow to an overall height of about 12' and at least 6' wide. Like I said in the earlier post, the purple leafed ones did not grow quite as large as the regular one, but still acheived an overall height of about 8'. Best of luck with your seeds and I am sure they will add a nice touch of tropics wherever you place them...
Randy

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JCDerrick

Thanks Randy. I've got some soaking now and will proceed with the others once I see how these do. I imagine they germinate fairly quickly too? Fairly positive I have the regular type - I don't remember seeing the red one. I too like to get things going before putting them in the ground - and these will add a nice touch as a background to the beds. Thanks again.

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Malama 'Aina



Normal Jan. Low: 34°F, Normal Jul High: 92°F
Coldest: 16-20°F, Warmest: 98-103°F
Annual Precip: 48 inches

mskitty38583

and away from animals.....

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Bananaman88

I typically cut off the blooms before they start forming seeds so none fall over my fence into my neighbor's yard.

dablo93

isn't it today 18c in tenessee? that is real spring weather!
we have the coldest winter in 13 years in north west europe and next week we have frost again! i hate this.

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Randy4ut

Daen,
I have been around 70F for highs for the past 4-5 days and loving every minute of it. I don't think we are finished with the cold weather yet, but I think the worst is past. Sorry to hear about your bad winter, hopefully all your plants will rebound nicely and treat you to a spectacular show this summer...

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kathy65468

I enjoyed temps in the 70 F range this week and was really feeling hopeful. Today we got 9 inches of fresh snow and themps are falling fast! I think the wait for warmer weather is going to take longer than anticipated!