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Ricinus Communis (RC) Purple and RC New Zealand Purple – a comparison
I have raised Ricinus Communis Purple for a few years now and this spring a friend sent me seeds for the RC New Zealand Purple. Due to a screw up by Canada Post the seeds arrived a bit later than would have been desirable and there was some doubt, if the seeds would have enough time to fully ripen before winter sets in, but that seems to be of little concern now. We have to consider, that the RC.P is about one month older than the RC.NZ.P. Therefore I have taken the photos for the RC.P of blossoms and developing seeds, which were in similar state as the first of the RC.NZ.P. This photo shows the flowers and developing seed pods of the RC.NZ.P. The flowers are the yellowish ‘things’ at the bottom and the emerging seed pods are the more showy red ‘things’. In the centre of this photo is a spike with flowers and seed pods of the RC.P in a similar state of progress as the ones of the RC.NZ.P. above. Look at the unblemished beauty of this RC.NZ.P. The colour on this picture is favouring the green in the leaves. In real life both varieties are actually a deeper purple than shown here. This photo shows, why I am so enthused about the RC.NZ.P. It is almost free of insect damage, while the RC.P is very susceptible to being ‘laced’ by those little menaces. The seeds are also quite dissimilar. The darker ones to the right are of the RC.NZ.P. The ones of the RC.P. are actually quite pretty “almost jewellery grade” according to my wife. :) |
Re: Ricinus Communis (RC) Purple and RC New Zealand Purple – a comparison
Castor bean grows wild here and it's considered an invasive....:ha: Very pretty though.
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Re: Ricinus Communis (RC) Purple and RC New Zealand Purple – a comparison
They could actually get quite invasive here too. They are popping up in all kinds of places,
where I did not plant them. However, I doubt that these "self seeders" have enough time to produce more off-springs, before the frost kills them. |
Re: Ricinus Communis (RC) Purple and RC New Zealand Purple – a comparison
Olaf
Very nice specimen, awesome color. Looks like your canna is the king of your jungle. The seeds are pretty however they remind me of blood engorged ticks that i have to take off my dog occasionally. Mike |
Re: Ricinus Communis (RC) Purple and RC New Zealand Purple – a comparison
I'm growing out the new zealand purple too. But I don't really think it looks that different in color than the impala red I had been growing previously. maybe the seeds I got were duds. have you tried the zanzibar giant? that's my favorite, they're green but so BIG.
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Re: Ricinus Communis (RC) Purple and RC New Zealand Purple – a comparison
Note, this post has been sitting in abeyance, while I was unable to post any pictures.
It appears, that I am still unable to post them directly, but have to resort to placing URLs instead. and I don't even know if that will work. This is my first try at this. Quote:
late and they went into the soil (indoors) only in May and the canna around mid March. Thus the canna topped out at about 9½ feet and the Castor New Zealand at ~6 feet and 7 feet wide This year the canna are only the highest plants,- by a few inches, but the Castor beans are more massive :)  The pipe standing beside this canna is 10 feet and two inches long. Thus I figure, that the top is only 3 inches short of 11 feet. It is quite difficult to get a tape measure to stand up this high.  These are actually three Canna New Zealand Purple one, which appears on the picture higher than the canna (it isn’t) has bred true the other two are regressive. I have learned a lot about the CNZP this summer. It appears, that it is a new variety, has not yet stabilized. The seeds for all three plants stem from the same mother plant, which I grew last year. This spring I grew a whole bunch of seedlings, selected three for myself and gave the rest to our local garden club. I did not select them for colour ( which I in retrospect should have done), but for early vigorous growth. Two of them you see in this picture. The third is a self-seeder. The other of the three, I selected for myself I planted elsewhere. Here is what I learned: • CNZP love deep rich soil. The ones pictured are growing in an old 27” deep pond, which I filled up completely with imported top soil. The third one in leaner soil did not come close in size. • They are not stable enough yet to breed true • Sow more than you will need and make your selection based on colour. • Sow them no later than March first. It appears, that the seeds of the deep purple ones ripen much more slowly. In my true one, only one bunch of seed pods ripened for sure. The other is a ‘maybe’ The ones of lesser colour had countless seed pots early. There is nothing, which distinguishes the seeds themselves. They all look like the CNZP seeds shown in my last year’s posting at the beginning of this thread • The true ones actually have a pigment channel as shown in the picture below. In the others there is still that channel, but with much less pigmentation.  This photo shows sections through the stem, after I had cut the plants down for disposal. The thicker ones were cut with a saw, therefore the pigment was smeared across the surface of the cut. The thin one was cut with a pruner and thus the pigment channel is more defined and it exists throughout the plant. [color="Purple"] |
Re: Ricinus Communis (RC) Purple and RC New Zealand Purple – a comparison
[IMG]????[/IMG] need to be outside of that "text where image should be".
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Re: Ricinus Communis (RC) Purple and RC New Zealand Purple – a comparison
Thanks, Justin, I have tried as I understood, but it did not work.
Can you please show exactly how you do it, but leave one of the ']' off, so that the photo does not actually appear, but it is shown, how it is done? |
Re: Ricinus Communis (RC) Purple and RC New Zealand Purple – a comparison
Olaf,
When you create a new message through Reply or New Thread, you'll see above the text box some tools like B for bold, I for italic, etc. Look farther to the right of those and you'll see an icon for pictures: it's a square with gray mountains and yellow background. Click on it. Paste in the URL (web address) of your image on photobucket or wherever. Presto, you're done! Actually, its much easier than the mechanism for photos on bananas.org. Also, if you want to see how someone has accomplished "magic" in their posts, click on the "Quote" button. You'll be in reply mode, but you'll also see all the "code" in their posting. |
Re: Ricinus Communis (RC) Purple and RC New Zealand Purple – a comparison
Yipeeh, Justin, it really worked!
Tomorrow I will clean up my below post. Right now I will have to go to a meeting or I will be in sheep dit with my wife. :ha: Thanks, Justin, you have helped tremendously, Olaf |
Re: Ricinus Communis (RC) Purple and RC New Zealand Purple – a comparison
Thank you, Richard,
I am in a rush right now, more tomorrow. Olaf |
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