2025 in the round

[Paul S]

I had no idea that the fruit from rocinus was edible, I always thought they were not edible!

I hope this was a joke but if it isn't WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT EAT ANYTHING FROM A RICiNUS.

[MartinNicklin]

They planted Ricinus in my local park a couple of years ago when we had the very hot summer and of course they fruited. Very pretty jelly bean like seeds within easy reach of young kids. I phoned the parks department as soon as I saw them and, to be fair to them, they were gone within a day!

Andy I have seen but not tried Little Miss Figgy. Generally it looks like it has been a good year for fruit, being one of the hottest on record, so I’m not sure why figs in certain parts of the UK have fared so poorly. In this area there have been bountiful crops.

[Chad]

Ho Hum.

It is usually Paul who points out that although the plant under discussion is potentially deadly [it was Oleander last time I think] actual problems are vanishingly rare.

Ricin, the toxin in Ricinus, is poorly absorbed from the gut, but lethal if appropriately injected.

The only UK death I can find reported is that of Georgi Markov who was famously injected through a modified umbrella.

I agree that no one should tempt fate by eating anything from a Ricinus plant, but that is also true of Aconitum, Delphinium, Taxus...

Chad

[MartinNicklin]

Yes Chad. If we worried about the toxicity of what grows in our gardens many of us would have lots of bare patches.
This Hedychium comes back every year and like yours Andy, smells delicious. I think it was ID’d on GOTE as garderianum as I wasn’t given a name for it.



I know some of us have had poor fig crops this year. Why not try Akebia? I’ve had great crops this year and the fruit has been lovely and sweet:


The fruit on longiracemosa is much slower to develop but TBH given its appearance, I don’t fancy it very much!!!



This is along shot but can anyone ID this poker I saw at the Dorothy Clive Garden. It’s not a great image but the pokers were big and fat and it was quite a tall bulky plant. The yellow ones I’ve seen on a net search have had looser, less voluptuous flowers:




This is a local garden open to the public. It’s fairly large at about 12 acres and has lots of lovely areas. I’ve been twice this year (first time for me) but I think Charlie and Liz do a Plant Hunter Fair there. The displays of azaleas and rhododendrons are said to be good so I look forward to those next year. I don’t think it’s a garden known widely outside of the area but makes for a lovely morning or afternoon out if in the area. It was created by a gentleman for his wife to walk around as a distraction from her Parkinson’s. Here are a couple of photos. The greenhouse is about to be revamped and some of my cacti and agaves will be going in there.

[charlie]

We have handed the Dorothy Clive Easter plant sale over to our son as its near his inlaws. Same plants but he is a far better salesman!!

[all43]

I had no idea that the fruit from rocinus was edible, I always thought they were not edible!

I hope this was a joke but if it isn't WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT EAT ANYTHING FROM A RICiNUS.

Yep, realised a few hours later that it was tongue in cheek lol

[Chad]

This is along shot but can anyone ID this poker I saw at the Dorothy Clive Garden. It’s not a great image but the pokers were big and fat and it was quite a tall bulky plant. The yellow ones I’ve seen on a net search have had looser, less voluptuous flowers:

'Quite a tall bulky plant' is a bit vague for this genus: relative to what?

Kniphofia 'Bees Lemon' gets to about 1M.

Large compared to 'Poco Yellow' at 50CM, but small compared to ‘Yellow Cheer’ which can push towards 2M.

Chad

[Paul S]

I agree that no one should tempt fate by eating anything from a Ricinus plant, but that is also true of Aconitum, Delphinium, Taxus...

...digitalis, monkshood, hemlock, deadly nightshade, horned poppy. It's an assassin's larder out there. And for anyone who has dogs that eat things randomly you might as well concrete over the garden and stay indoors, I'd say. Then again 78% of accidents occur in the home*. We are doomed. :lol:

Just saying, Chad, that if there is a risk folks should be aware which then mitigates the risk. And as it was specifically mentioned I thought it worth pointing out that eating castor bean tart , whilst perhaps not fatal, would do you no good at all.

Incidentally, you can eat the flesh of yew berries all day, they are quite nutritious. Bite into a pip and it is a different story.

* There was a train derailment at the bottom of our stairs last Tuesday. To misquote Alexei Sayle,

[MartinNicklin]

Yes Paul and I do worry about my dogs one of which keeps nibbling things! Whilst at Kiftsgate a few weeks ago, I was about to sniff an oleander flower when a man quite aggressively warned me away! I told him I knew they were poisonous but honestly I would never have the nerve to presume somebody visiting a garden of that type would not know things. However, if he’d done that to someone else, he may well have saved their life, assuming they were going to use the oleander twigs as kebab skewers! So I can’t really judge him.

Chad. Thanks for the info on the poker. I’ve done some research. Yellow Cheer seems quite hard to get but CGF describes the flowers as “scratty” and these were far from that. However, I’ve just stumbled across Bees Lemon which is more easily obtainable and looks as if it might fit the bill.

Charlie I was given a year’s pass to the Dorothy Clive Garden as a “thank you” for all the plants I donated so I will see your son there as you have a few things I want. Be sure to set aside for me Abutilon Nabob (incidentally Chad that was indeed the abutilon at Hidcote confirmed by their “senior gardener”!), Eupatorium ligustrinum and Mandevilla laxa! Everyone else, hands off!

[charlie]

Charlie I was given a year’s pass to the Dorothy Clive Garden as a “thank you” for all the plants I donated so I will see your son there as you have a few things I want. Be sure to set aside for me Abutilon Nabob (incidentally Chad that was indeed the abutilon at Hidcote confirmed by their “senior gardener”!), Eupatorium ligustrinum and Mandevilla laxa! Everyone else, hands off!

Remind me on the run up to easter.

Ross the new head gardener there was previously at Hodnet but I think he did some of his early years at Dorothy Clive (and he proposed to his wife in the garden!) He will I am sure be keen to expand the more adventurous planting