Looking for a fascinating plant to fill in and flourish your summer garden? Consider castor bean, a tall shrub that helps cast away garden cares in many ways. It has captured my attention over the years of digging into the plants and gardening metaphors of the Bible. Spying a swath of seedlings installed at the Dallas Arboretum a few weeks ago, I was reminded to bring this background filler to the forefront for you, dear Gardeners!
Castor bean, Ricinus communis, resides on the fringes in the study of Biblical botany. Noted authority Lytton John Musselman, author of Figs, Dates, Laurel, and Myrrh and creator of the Old Dominion University Plants of the Bible website, considers the pace of the “vine,” “gourd,” or “leafy plant” (click here to various translations of Jonah 4:6), which sprang up in a day to shade pouting Jonah, “in the realm of supernatural events.” Because of its surreal qualities, he did not include castor bean in his survey of plants of the Bible, published by Timber Press.
Likewise, another plant with miraculous properties, in this case maturing in a single day, was translated as “gourd” in the story of Jonah in both the Quran…and the Bible, “And the lord God prepared a gourd, and made it come up over Jonah, that is might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief…(Jonah 4:6., KJV, though many other translations do not use “gourd” in this verse). Since the plant discussed in the Bible germinated and grew extensively within a single day, it was clearly not a garden variety gourd (or, as some translators suggest, castor bean).
Lytton John Musselman, Figs, Dates, Laurel, and Myrrh, page 16-17
However, other authors and gardeners of God’s Word, those of us crazy to pinpoint every elusive mention of plant material in Scripture, count castor bean as a strong candidate for Jonah’s grief-relief, regardless of its reality or not. Don’t we all hope for hyperbole shade to appear in a day once summer’s sun-beating temperatures take over? or is that just the cry of this Texas gardener, LOL!
Adonai, God, prepared a castor-bean plant and made it grow up over Yonah to shade his head and relieve his discomfort. So Yonah was delighted with the castor-bean plant. Jonah 4:6 CJB
click here to read the full story of Jonah
Cast Away Cares
What garden cares will castor bean relieve for you? It is a fast-growing filler, dramatically colorful, with carefree care. Let all worries of what to do with the back fence or back of the garden bed or spottiness from other shrubs’ freeze damage be cast away: Castor bean is here to save the day!
Most of us will enjoy this tropical plant as an annual, sowing its large, bean-like seeds once fear of frost has passed. I have seen it fill out plantings from Minnesota to Pittsburgh to Texas and look forward to watching it create a dynamic exchange with our fig tree this summer, an equally leafy plant with a notorious Biblical story. What a pair!
Dramatic Color
Castor bean is vibrantly colorful. Palmate-formed leaves spread in deep greens tinged with deep crimson to maroon from beet-red stems, which soar to 5 feet or more. Full sun required, with modestly moist soil. Tucked among leaves’ sheltering structure, small flowers turn to pom-pomish pod-fruits, clustered vertically, their bright red fuzziness instantly interesting.
Carefree Care
Neediness is a minimum with this plant. Keep seeds moist as they sprout, yet once established, the plant does not demand a lot of water and stands tall in full sunshine. Humidity is not a problem, neither are garden pests. The only warning I have to pass along: Ingesting ANY part of this plant is poisonous! Despite the bean-looking seeds yielded from the husks, do not confuse these with fava’s or any other edible legumes from the garden: Ornamental Only! is what I recomend.
However, their decorative sensation is definitely worth incorporating into your garden plan. With its lush growth in green-to-red hues, castor bean draws every other garden plant into fanciful composition. Pair with cannas, wandering Jew, bright zinnias or celosia for the summer; by September, punctuate with fall-colored mums, and of course, pumpkins and gourds—for a tongue-and-cheek twist on Jonah 4:6 translations!
Cast Away Devotions
In a word, cast away garden cares with castor bean! This plant will fill in spotty growth, pull together a spectrum of color, and remind you, as God worked to show Jonah, to cast your cares on the Lord. Let us take the “cast” of castor bean and return to God’s Word to remember His ways.
Cast all your care upon Him, because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 MEV
Cast your burden on the Lord [release it] and He will sustain and uphold you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken (slip, fall, fail). Psalm 55:22 AMP
“Cast your burden on the Lord— he will support you! God will never let the righteous be shaken!” Psalm 55:22 CEB
Clearly it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish, but you have preserved my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back. Isaiah 38:17 NCB
You will again show us compassion and wash away our guilt; you will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19 NCB
I knew you were a God who is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in grace, and that you relent from inflicting punishment. Jonah 4:2 CJB
But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the descendants of my friend Abraham, you whom I have taken to myself from the ends of the earth and summoned from its farthest corners, to whom I have said, “You are my servant; I have chosen you and will not cast you off. Isaiah 41:8-9 NCB
Cast away from you all the transgressions you have committed, and strengthen yourself with a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of Israel? Ezekiel 18:31 NCB
I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back because I have taken pity on them, and they will be as though I had never cast them off; for I am the Lord, their God, and I will answer them. Zechariah 10:6 NCB
Then a cloud cast a shadow over them, and a voice came out of the cloud: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Mark 9:7 NCB
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. Whoever fears is not perfect in love. 1 John 4:18 MEV
Closing Prayer
O Lord, You know exactly what I need—a pretty view of castor bean lushness in my garden to remind me all summer to cast my cares on You. Father, let the deep, rich color of castor bean beckon me to draw deeply from You, from the reality of Your compassion and grace. You were trying to get Jonah’s attention with Your mercy, and I pray to know the richness of Your mercy, my loving, kind Lord. Thank You, Jesus: Because of You, my sins are cast away. Now let me be the one to call everyone around me into a fanciful, fun community composition to display Your love and banish fear. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you. 1 Peter 5:7 The Message
Do you love connecting God’s Word to your gardening work and the trees and plants around you? You will love my new book, My Father is the Gardener, Devotions in Botany and Gardening of the Bible, order at this link.
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Find castor bean in God’s Word for Gardeners Bible in the “Lay of the Land” feature for the Fertile Crescent, pages 29-30, part of the Garden Tour section of devotions.
Visit the Garden in Delight Plant Guide for more information on growing plants from the Bible in your own garden – you will love connecting to God’s Word in this hands-on, earthy way! Castor Bean is coming soon.
Photo Credits: ©Shelley S. Cramm
AMP notes Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org
CEB notes Scripture quotations taken from the Common English Bible © 2011 Common English Bible, Nashville, Tennessee. All Rights Reserved. The CEB translation was funded by the Church Resources Development Corp, which allows for cooperation among denominational publishers in the development and distribution of Bibles, curriculum, and worship materials.
CJB notes Scripture quotations taken from the Complete Jewish Bible by David H. Stern. Copyright © 1998. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Messianic Jewish Publishers, 6120 Day Long Lane, Clarksville, MD 21029. www.messianicjewish.net.
The Message denotes Scripture quotations taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries.
MEV denotes Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House. All rights reserved.
NCB denotes Scripture taken from the SAINT JOSEPH NEW CATHOLIC BIBLE® Copyright © 2019 by Catholic Book Publishing Corp. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
NIV denotes Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®
