Giant Ornamental Rhubarb
Gunnera manicata. GUNNERACEAE.
Planting and Growing Giant Ornamental Rhubarb
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow ornamental rhubarb in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- Flowers, foliage, and root structure of ornamental rhubarb
- Plant hardiness and growing conditions for ornamental rhubarb
- Season of bloom and planting time for ornamental rhubarb
- When, how deep, and where to plant ornamental rhubarb
- How to plant ornamental rhubarb
- Watering, fertilizing, care, and pests or diseases of ornamental rhubarb
- Landscape and container uses of ornamental rhubarb
- Comments about ornamental rhubarb and its features
Growing Giant Ornamental Rhubarb
Several species and cultivars of subtropical, deciduous perennial herbs, 5–9 ft. (1.5–2.7 m) tall and wide. Rough-textured, deep or yellow green, cupped, lobed, toothed leaves, to 5 ft. (1.5 m) wide, with prickly spined undersides, on spiny, rhubarblike, fleshy stalks.
While giant ornamental rhubarb shares a few aspects of general appearance in common with Edible Rhubarb, Rheum rhabarbarum, it is a member of a separate botanical family and is unrelated to the leafy vegetable grown for its edible stalks.
Planting and Care Guide
Blooms
Russet green, coblike, conical flower heads, 1–3 ft. (30–90 cm) tall, in summer.
Best Climates
Tender. Zones 7–10. Best in cool-summer climates.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist, well-drained humus or, in water features, shoreline sites. Fertility: Rich. 6.0–8.0 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Spring in filtered sun to partial shade, 8 ft. (2.4 m) apart, after soil warms.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep evenly moist. Fertilize monthly during growth. Mulch. Protect from wind. Propagate by division, seed.
About This Plant
Good choice for accents, backgrounds, barriers, screens in shade, woodland gardens and water feature margins, shorelines. Avoid pathway or access plantings due to thorny stalks. Pest and disease resistant.