I've always loved huge, dramatic, castor beans (
Ricinus communis), but the past couple times I've grown them, haven't had much luck.
I'm not alone -- Loree over at Danger Garden
wrote recently about castor beans not quite living up to what she had planned on.
This year, though, I think I've gotten it figured out.
First, what not to do:
This is the variety 'New Zealand Purple' Great color leaves, but not really making much of a statement.
Check out, however, this one, just a few feet away in the same bed:
This is better. Same site, but this one is from a mix of seeds collected from wild populations in the Dominican Republic I got from
Chiltern seeds. So lesson one: Variety matters. If first you don't succeed, try, try another variety.
Lesson two: Site matters even more. Those first two plants are in the front bed, where conditions are dry and slightly shaded thanks to a big silver maple. This is what the same Dominican Republic castor beans look like in the back garden:
That is me. I am 5' 10" (175 cm). The castor beans are pushing ten feet (about 3 meters). Back here, they are getting absolutely full sun and lots of water, and are rewarding me by being freakishly huge and awesome.
