Q: A friend of mine gave me some seeds of castor bean. I understand the plant is very poisonous but it is beautiful and I would like to grow it. Someone else told me it might be illegal to grow. Your ...

Castor bean plants (Ricinus ommunis) are easy to grow from seed when provided with sun and moist, loamy soil. The seeds produce a vibrant plant with large, star-shaped foliage that can grow up to 10 ...

Q: We were in England this summer and saw some very colorful examples of Victorian bedding in the parks that we thought would be fun and different to try in part of our garden. These plantings were ...

In 1978, a Bulgarian dissident died after KGB assassins jabbed him in the leg with an umbrella containing a poison pellet on a London street. Fast-forward to February 2003, when former Secretary of ...

Q. I have a place in my backyard where I would like the color and texture of castor beans, but I have dogs and I hear that the seeds are highly poisonous. Can they be clipped off before they mature ...

*Refers to the latest 2 years of stltoday.com stories. Cancel anytime. Castor bean (ricinus communis). Photo from mobot.org. Q • Three years ago, I planted castor beans in my garden, and they thrived.

Dissident Bulgarian journalist Georgi Markov died mysteriously in 1978. The Scotland Yard postmortem examination revealed a BB, studded with tiny holes, imbedded in his leg. It had been shot into ...