This plant appeared in our garden this year. We did add some dirt this year, so maybe that is how it got there. There are several of them with the largest 10' tall. The stalk looks like bamboo, and the leaves are very large and growing in clumps of 8 I think. One has a red stalk and the others are green. It is growing in our pumpkin patch.

Can you help identify this please? Is it invasive or dangerous? What should we do with it?
Thanks for your help!

to NGA

They are Castor Bean plants - all parts are poisonous.

Surprising to have so many just show up like that! Castor bean plants (Ricinus communis) will not survive where you are once the weather turns cold.

Free gifts with the soil Sean brought in.

DaisyI said:Free gifts with the soil Sean brought in.

Presumably, but still odd to be in purchased (?) soil and also to have got to that height in a single season without having been started before the last frost date. Must be a very fertile pumpkin patch combined with an extra hot summer!

@sooby and @daisyl I love it! Do you think this would grow well here in 7a/b? Terri

It would grow well as an annual. It gets much bigger where it is warm enough to winter over. Bear in mind that it is poisonous, as Daisy mentioned.

Very pretty plant but highly toxic. More photos and information:
Castor Beans (Ricinus communis)
http://corn.agronomy.wisc.edu/...
http://wimastergardener.org/ar...

Thanks to everyone for all the help identifying. There must have been seeds in the soil we bought in last fall, it was supposedly organic soil. It was all tilled this spring before planting. Hopefully they don't come back next year. They'll be gone soon enough, fall is almost here.

Thanks again for the help!