Woodspirit and Jo, Stranglebrand is a serious disease that is now showing up in the US. It has been a serious problem in previous years in the European brug collections. See this thread http://davesgarden.com/t/367382/
Where is the best place
I love your yard!!!!
Kell, I would never have thought that impatiens would be good in strawberry jars, but they held up all summer long (had to move them to a shady spot though) and grew so large that they completely covered the jar.
I just saw the castor bean contest photos. Nat, that was an amazing trio of plants. What happens when the frost gets them. This will be my first year to grow them and they are already about 6". Just curious as to whether they "melt" like many tropicals, or do they have to be chopped down in the Fall. Thanks! Gretchen
Don't tell her Nat!!!She is gonna try to beat ya!!!LOL!!!
Gretchen,that thread was a blast! In Zone 8b,I sure can't say,I know mine are the last thing to brown out here,I always wish I had one more zone for them.
All I'm gonna say Gretchen is that they don't exactly die down on their own! Dynamite or an old rusty pick up truck with a chain is needed to yank those things out of the ground.
(Now Root, do you think I have discouraged the competition? LOL)
LOL!!Nat!!
Melissa as you can see we are crazy about Brugs and bad at hyjacking threads!Sorry!
But you know, you learn so much when threads are hijacked!
I've been guilty of HJ's before myself... I certainly don't mind them a bit!!
Rooty, Your 'Marble Rock' looks naked out there all by it's self now.......LOL
Root, tell Melissa the sorry truth! We are all just plain crazy!
Gretchen - where are those castor bean pics. I looked at the extras page and couldn't find them. Please, I love castors?
Kooger, I think Melissa is referring to our Castor Bean Contest thread from last year. http://davesgarden.com/t/390294/
Thanks, I found it and enjoyed the whole thread! Printed out the concrete casting inst. too! :)
I bought some castor bean seeds this year.
I'm starting them today along with a bunch of other stuff.
I guess you guys won't give me any tips on growing them? LOL
My advice is don't start them too early,my experience has been,they get leggy quick,some of my biggest are sown right in the ground,that way the tap root never gets disturbed.
You know of coarse we are kidding,nothing makes us happier then to see everyones huge Beans!!!
That reminds me,I have to reread the concrete casting info too.
concrete casting?
Okay... hmmm, I just repotted mine today. They had completely outgrown the 4' pots that they started off in. Wonder if they will survive my winter weather. Now I'm wondering if I even WANT to plant them in my garden??? Come on guys, help me out here, please...
Yeah! datdog posted a pic and directions to make concrete castings of leaves. She did a castor bean - really neat. Go to that thread posted above and then go to Aug. 27th at 5:46 AM and you'll see it. :)
edited to add: the pic of the leaf is a bit higher up on Aug. 26th.
This message was edited Feb 26, 2004 1:48 PM
just have a chainsaw ready for them in the fall after frost....cause you aint gunna get them out without one...LOL
Gretchen, I don't plant my castor beans outside until after the last frost. Depending on when your last frost date is, you may have started these a little too soon. I wouldn't give up on the ones you have started, but if you have seeds left - - you may want to consider starting a second batch about 4 weeks before your last frost.
Regarding how to grow: they need sun, water and shelter from strong winds. While they are difficult to remove in the fall, they are prone to fall over or lean if they are very tall. The tall ones can be supported with stakes or can be anchored to a fence or another structure if needed.
Here is a picture of my Royal Thai castor bean. It ended up over ten feet tall, a little taller than I want to deal with.
Thanks Nat. Hopefully the ones that I have started will survive another month. I have absolutely NO ROOM to start another seed! I have 100's of various seedlings and cuttings at this point, not to mention all the seeds to be direct sown. I will just plant the castor beans outside and see what happens. My hope is that they'll like it here and pop right up. Its going to be a very interesting summer season for me, as I have never grown tropicals, mostly just xeric native plants and wildflowers, and a smattering of common flowering annuals.
Didn't I read where caster beans make some kind of poison?
I've read that the beans are poisonous but not the plants. Is that right?
I remembered!! It is ricin.
http://www.chemsoc.org/exemplarchem/entries/2002/hook/ricin.htm
Wow, that's interesting! Doesn't take a lot of beans to do the job, does it? I haven't planted them for 20 years and then my kids were small, but I remember reading on the pkg. to flush the left over seeds if you weren't planting them all because they were very toxic, esp. to small children! They weren't kidding!! I did flush what I didn't use - had a daycare so it wasn't worth the risk keeping them!
I bought last year from Tree-frog.net.... can anyone tell me if they changed company names?
If they've went out of business, could you suggest another place that sends plants as large as treefrog did?
Thanks
Melissa
Melissa, I think his website is out of business. I haven't been able to access it in months. He sells on eBay sometimes. I think his name on eBay is maintreefrog. You might look for him. I have ordered from him once and was extremely pleased.
THANK YOU Brinda... you just confirmed my suspicions. :-) I went to ebay and found maintreefrog there, and I wondered :-) YAY! his plants did so well for me last year, I wanted more this year since I killed all the cuttings. :-(
Melissa