The Ricinus are up!
This entry is about
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Day 6
Castor Oil: New Zealand Purple Ricinus communis
Sprouting
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Previous Journals
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Sad Orange Tree feeling better
Sad Orange Tree and Windowsill and Conservatory garden
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The Smallholding garden , Gloomy Corner garden , Extra Terrestrial garden , Garden in the Lane ga...
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Too cold, urgent advice needed!
Adenium and Windowsill and Conservatory garden
Later Journals
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The second use for bubble wrap...
Asparagus seeds:Connover's Colossal Hardening Off and Extra Terrestrial garden
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Don't laugh....but three years and 36 crowns later.......
Asparagus seeds:Connover's Colossal Showing True Leaves and The Smallholding garden
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Monkey Puzzle tree seeds Transplanted and Growing a Forest garden
Comments
Armorel wrote:
Exciting!
They’re stately plants and very colourful :-)
Posted on 06 Feb 11 (over 2 years ago)
flowerweaver wrote:
So good to see the airing cupboard is back in garden service!!
Posted on 06 Feb 11 (over 2 years ago)
Tomartyr wrote:
The name of the variety caught my eye, Motherhen. Although I’ve lived in NZ for more years than I like to think about, I had never heard of it. To the best of my knowledge it is not native to this country. That is not to say that it wasn’t hybridised here. One thing I did find out here is that the seeds are highly toxic, so obviously should be handled with care and kept well out of the reach of children.
Posted on 06 Feb 11 (over 2 years ago)
Armorel wrote:
Ricinus used to be very popular as centrepieces for bedding displays here in the UK but, if you notice, they’ve gradually fallen out of favour and aren’t seen so much now. Maybe that’s the reason?
A friend who ‘winters’ on the coast of southern Spain with her husband in their motorhome, brought mystery seeds back last year that she had collected in the wild. She grew two plants and I have one. It has a very strong reddish colouring to the stalk and the leaves are reddish bronze but it is, undeniably, a species of Ricinus. Very pretty but I carefully disposed of all the seedheads at the end of the summer, mindful that they are poisonous and there is no antidote.
Incidentally, Ricin was the poison used to kill the Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov in London in 1978 “He was killed on a London street after a ricin-containing pellet was fired into his leg, most likely by the Bulgarian secret police” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgi_Markov
Posted on 06 Feb 11 (over 2 years ago)
Motherhen wrote:
I bought the seeds from www.jungleseeds.com , so I’m not sure how they were named. :) But I am looking forward to the promise of large purple leaves and stems. I agree, their toxicity it is something to be aware of but to me this is the amazing thing, so many useful molecules hidden in plants!
Posted on 06 Feb 11 (over 2 years ago)
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