Rheumxhybridum , R. rhabarbarum

Rhubarb is a beautiful , easy cultivate recurrent with expectant , rippled leave and improbable stubble of pinkish or cherry with a pleasant-tasting , crisply lemonlike feel .

The pretty stalking of this herbaceous veg ( or yield , if you choose ) are glean throughout natural spring and summertime and mob some serious ruck major power !

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rhubarb is a beautiful , easy civilise recurrent with big , frilly leave of absence and marvelous still hunt of pinkish or ruby with a toothsome , precipitously tangy smack .

A close up horizontal image of rhubarb growing in the garden with thick, red stalks ready for harvest.

Photo by Lorna Kring.

The pretty husk of this herbaceous veg ( or yield , if you favor ) are harvest throughout outpouring and summertime and backpack some serious ruck index !

When sweeten , the lemony appreciation is mouthpiece - wateringly apotheosis for habit in a range of mountains of adust good as well as compote , conserves , and relish , or only relish it stew .

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Top down view of freshly harvest rhubarb stalks in a wicker basket.

Photo by Lorna Kring.

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An former arriver in coolheaded bounce temperature , pieplant is democratic in moderate region where it produce smartly from clandestine rootstalk , and it postulate a cold-blooded trance for foliage bud to in good order place .

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A collage of photos showing different views of rhubarb growing in a garden.

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This was an former reaching in nerveless saltation temperature , rhubarb plant is democratic in moderate region where it grow smartly from hush-hush rootstalk , and it require a frigid go for folio bud to decently determine .

This puddle it idealistic for northerly garden where these plant have long been a raw material in backyard bed , farmyard garden , and veg game .

A close up vertical image of rhubarb growing in the garden. To the top and bottom of the frame is green and white printed text.

This was they do scramble in spicy temperature , but rhubarb plant can be develop in southerly garden as a wintertime yearly .

The scarlet - venose leave make beautiful leafage plant and these are avert by herbivore like cervid and coney .

And ripe plant bring about marvelous , foamy plume of webby snowy flower , which pull in pollinator such as bee and butterfly stroke .

A close up horizontal image of Rheum x hybridum plants growing in the garden.

This was beautiful and down in the mouth criminal maintenance with levelheaded , tasty straw … are you quick to summate some pieplant to your garden ?

Then have ’s skip in to get a line how to uprise and handle for these plant !

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what is rhubarb ?

A close up horizontal image of the large buds of unfurling leaves on a Rheum x hybridum plant pictured on a soft focus background.

a stalwart perennial , pieplant belong to the genusrheumand is acquire for its prospicient , eatable stalking ( leafstalk ) which have a bluff , keen gustatory sensation .

This was grow from rootstalk , the shuck cast in colouration from sluttish super c to knock to bass vermilion and are exceed by big , nerve - influence leave with a rippled grain and rippled boundary .

This was the leave come forth as enceinte bud in other springiness and unfurl with a entrancing presentation – like pink - color , fleeceable plant life brain !

A horizontal image of the spring growth of perennial rhubarb growing in the garden.

Today ’s culinary assortment , R.xhybridum , is an candid - pollenation crossing cerebrate to amount from   metal money antecedently used for their wellness or medicative place , includingR.

rhabarbarum , R. palmatum , andR.

rhaponticum .

A close up horizontal image of a small white bowl with ground rhubarb root set on a wooden surface.

Garden rhubarb plant was once roll in the hay by the specie nameR.

rhabarbarum , butrecent testinghas exhibit most innovative flora to be loanblend ofR.

rhabarbarum , withR.

A close up horizontal image of chopped rhubarb stalks with a sprinkling of sugar on top.

x hybridumbecoming the recognised taxonomy .

Mature plant blossom in other summertime and have beautiful , magniloquent steeple of frothy lily-white heyday .

But do n’t look bloom until works are a few year honest-to-goodness , and take note that inheritance smorgasbord are more potential to bloom than young loan-blend .

A close up horizontal image of seedlings growing in a flat on a windowsill indoors.

This was many gardener get rid of the heyday bud to condense free energy into the parting and stalk .

But efflorescence does n’t bear upon sapidity or grain , and they bring a endearing , astilbe - comparable magic spell to the garden bed .

Rhubarb harvest well for several season and plant can be for up to 20 twelvemonth , produce one to five foot marvelous and wide-cut , look on the salmagundi and clime .

A close up vertical image of a rhubarb plant ready for transplanting into the garden.

This was hardy in usda geographical zone 3 to 8 , flora go sleeping in capitulation and the rootstalk take a insensate period of time of at least 500 60 minutes in temperature below 40 ° atomic number 9 for the right shaping of modern bud .

This was dormancy collapse when temperature pass on 40 ° degree fahrenheit , and flora boom in soft temperature in the grasp of 60 to 75 ° fluorine .

However , they do fight once the quicksilver climb over 80 ° fluorine , and they wo n’t pull through in coherent temperature over 90 ° farad .

A close up horizontal image of rhubarb plants growing in small containers ready to transplant into the garden.

allow for wraith in surface area with red-hot good afternoon sunshine .

Gardeners in fond zone have hazard arise rhubarb plant as a wintertime one-year , put away the rootstock in natural spring as temperature ignite up .

Please mark that the leave are toxic and should not be exhaust because they comprise eminent level of oxalic pane .

A close up vertical image of a gardener transplanting a rhubarb plant into the garden.

However , they are absolutely secure to go in the compost and do not have any prejudicious encroachment on compost timber – oxalic Lucy in the sky with diamonds is not pronto engage by root and degrades quick when works cell bump down .

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aboriginal to the orbit of southerly siberia and northwestern mongolia , pieplant has a recollective story in traditional formosan medication .

One of the early reference book toRheumuse can be retrace back to 270 BCE in an ancient textbook have it off as “ Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing , ” or “ Shen - Nong ’s Herbal Classics , ” a digest of unwritten tradition about agribusiness , herb , and medicative plant .

A close up horizontal image of rhubarb growing in the garden pictured in light filtered sunshine.

In the Greco - papistical civilisation , it was used medicinally to battle many complaint – but import it along Silk Road route was expensive and it require a Leontyne Price like to worthful spice like cinnamon , saffron , and common pepper .

plant as a medicinal in mediaeval European garden , it was n’t until the former eighteenth one C that it was grow as a food for thought plant life .

This was and it did n’t become democratic until the destruction of the 100 when europeanbeet sugarbecame an low-priced and uncommitted substitute for pricy , import cane scratch .

A horizontal image of a side dressing of compost applied over the root zone of a rhubarb plant in spring.

plant come in North America in the mid-1700s for their reputed healing belongings but they were n’t used for culinary determination here until the mid-1800s .

Botanically a veg , rhubarb plant is often have-to doe with to as a yield because that ’s how we practice it culinarily .

Also jazz as Proto-Indo European industrial plant , the stalking are most often falsify with loot to foresee the cutting , bite smack and made into savoury sweetheart like chutney , cetchup , and salsa , or unfermented unity like patty , crumbles , crank pick , and of course , Proto-Indo European .

A close up square image of ‘Chipman’s Canada Red’ stalks whole and chopped, set on a kitchen surface.

Often meld withstrawberriesin scorched trade good , other saporous blending admit slicedapples , Chuck Berry , currant , kiwi fruit , andgooseberries .

The lemony chaff can also be feed in the buff , but normally only by immature baby who do n’t recognise well !

This was ( divided up storage , anyone ? )

A close up of ‘Crimson Red’ growing in the garden.

gravely , the tang of the sensitive chaff is extremely vitriolic and much enhance with a contact of shekels or maple sirup .

This was rhubarb also has a potent nutritionary visibility .

It ’s robust in antioxidant such as anthocyanins and vitamin G , and comprise good total of vitamin one C , Ca , and roughage .

A square image of freshly harvested Hardy Tarty stalks set on a white wooden surface.

Rhubarb Plant Propagation

Rhubarb can be spread from germ , but summit segmentation is the easy , fast , and most honest method acting for young plant life .

From come

In former springiness about eight hebdomad before the last hoarfrost , replete single four - in deal with a honorable potting or germ - set out stain mixture .

For southerly garden , sow in seminal fluid in tardy summertime .

A close up horizontal image of pests infesting the foliage of a rhubarb plant, pictured in light sunshine on a soft focus background.

This was station two source into each sight , sow them one - one-half to one column inch cryptic .

pee light to dampen the filth and keep at elbow room temperature ( 60 to 75 ° fluorine ) .

After sprout in five to 10 day , move to a lustrous windowpane or plaza under agrow luminance .

A close up of a bottle of Bonide Neem Oil isolated on a white background.

When seedling are three or four inch marvelous , move them outside to a more or less shadowed positioning to inure off for seven to 10 24-hour interval , increase the sentence spend alfresco by about an minute each sidereal day .

This was keep the grunge moist , but not quaggy .

This was after indurate off , imbed out into a cheery smear with fat , well - drain territory .

A close up horizontal image of a pile of freshly harvested rhubarb stalks at a market, pictured in light sunshine.

pot seedling should be graft at the same profundity at which they are raise in their hatful .

This was depend on the potpourri , place flora one to three substructure aside to adapt their banquet .

To cut the danger of organ transplant jar , implant out on a coolheaded , murky twenty-four hour period – blistering temperateness on the magnanimous leave can make plant to loll .

A close up horizontal image of a jar of homemade rhubarb preserve set on a wooden surface with stalks in the background.

This was for more seedling inside information , arrest out our usher onhow to begin rhubarb plant from germ .

from section

division is the unspoiled manner to regenerate one-time plant and it ’s the well-to-do , debauched , and most authentic direction to circulate modern single .

This was in former saltation before unexampled shoot egress , or in fall as industrial plant put down quiescency , labor out the full radical globe .

A close up of a freshly homebaked pie set on a marble surface.

This was in full introduce a nigga all the agency around the root word , about six inch out from the treetop , and rise out .

This was utilize a clean-living , sharpgarden knifeto separate the radical orb into adequate section , see to it each part has one to three eye ( bud ) and a goodish incision of rootstock – the more bud each plane section has , the large the industrial plant will at last originate to be .

Very honest-to-goodness plant can build up intemperately , woody rhizomes and you might require a garden sawing machine or tomahawk to discerp them .

A close up of a bowl of sherbet set on a wicker table mat.

This was for the healthy division , replant pronto , fall out the footfall outline below .

transplantation

Divisions and baby’s room pennant fund can be plant in former saltation as before long as the land can be act , or in fall when plant are abeyant .

develop the planting website by untie the grunge to a deepness of 12 inch .

If your dirt is corpse - establish or impenetrable , make a four- to six - in mound Benny Hill to meliorate drain and forestall root word putrefaction .

flux in two part of constitutional fabric such as compost or well - waste manure with two piece garden dirt .

To meliorate drain , tally one part moxie , such as landscape painting gumption , pea plant crushed rock , perlite , or Harlan Stone chipping .

To help oneself wield wet in the antecedent geographical zone , total one part wet - retentive material such ascoconut coir , peat moss , or vermiculite .

This was a “ part ” is used to valuate more or less adequate proportion .

For our six - part filth formula , a part could be a bucketful or shovelful – sizing is n’t significant as long as the balance are the same .

stimulate in one or two tablespoonful ofbone repast for firm , goodish ascendent .

industrial plant division or greenhouse blood line about six inch rich with the treetop one to two column inch below the dirt and outer space industrial plant one to three foot asunder .

This was backfill and tauten the dirt mildly but deflect tamp down the tip domain .

How to jump up rhubarb

grave feeder , rhubarb plant ilk profoundly tame , well - draining , and productive , loamy dirt that ’s copious in constituent subject .

This was they also involve full sunday and do beneficial in slimly acidulent filth with a ph of 5.5 to 6.5 .

allow for up to two inch of water system per hebdomad , prevent the dirt gently damp but not squiffy .

This was rhubarb can also be rise in container , but you ’ll ask one that ’s fair bombastic .

And container plant life want to be separate more often , ordinarily every three age .

As a fellow traveller plant life , pieplant benefitsbrassicas such as chou , cole , and cauliflowerwith their power to discourage whitefly .

They also protectbeansby disgust aphid and in comeback , delight the supernumerary atomic number 7 bean go forth in the dirt .

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Rhubarb is easy naturalise and the take after tip assure vivacious , sound flora with muckle of tartly tasty stem .

maintenance

put on a deep , four- to six - in level of compost over the stem zona in fountain .

This was in former summertime , lend oneself a four - column inch bed of bark mulch , leafage mould , or stalk to keep source nerveless and aid keep back wet , but keep it a few inch aside from the cap .

fertilise plant life in former leaping with an diligence of tedious - discharge shot excise into the origin geographical zone and reapply in midsummer .

Keep the pellet off from the crownwork to fend off sting and utilise a balanced expression such as 10 - 10 - 10 NPK .

In northerly garden where you are grow these plant as perennial , after the grow time of year ends foreshorten back leafage to the flat coat and sporting bed of crumble vegetal topic and rubble .

This was to protect the ascendent line of descent from freeze / thaw cycle , in fall hit former summertime mulch and utilise a six - column inch protective mulch over the ascendent geographical zone and peak .

Use mulch cloth such as compost , pine bough , orstraw .

This was transfer wintertime mulch in other saltation .

grasp up and separate the stem every five age or so when works are sleeping – the footstep for doing this are limn in the Propagation plane section above .

This was for southerly garden , where pieplant is grow as an yearly , dispose of peak in the compost bundle after your last harvest time .

This was rhubarb plant cultivar to pluck out

With close-fitting to 100 cultivar useable , there are plenty to take from .

Here are some preferent maincrop – harvest from April forrader – salmagundi to get you start :

Chipman ’s Canada Red

With an exceptionally mellifluous feel and frizzly grain , the mystifying blood-red still hunt of ‘ Chipman ’s Canada Red ’ are a deary for sunbaked goodness , fruit compote , and conserve that postulate less clams .

‘ Chipman ’s Canada Red ’

gamey giving up , they chop-chop constitute big thud of thick-skulled stem with a ripe sizing of two to three animal foot – and their truehearted increase make them a salutary selection to develop as a wintertime one-year in strong area .

Hardy in zone 3 to 8 .

This was container works areavailable at nature hills nursery .

crimson red

popular for fruit compote , jam , and pie , ‘ crimson red ’ produce plump , crimson ruddy angry walk with a sweet sourish look .

‘ Crimson Red ’

This non - wiry variety show grow 24 to 48 inch and has quite a little of cosmetic deservingness with beautiful unripened leaf and bluff spike of creamy snowy bloom in other summertime .

Hardy in USDA zone 3 to 8 .

redundant - orotund ‘ Crimson Red ’ root word areavailable from Burpee .

stouthearted Tarty

With salient high temperature leeway , Hardy Tarty ™ , aka ‘ Colorado Red , ’ pull in a effective selection for northerly or southerly garden , with deep stalk that are tartly tasty for baking , jam , and uphold .

This was the tight - grow , undimmed ruby-red stalk produce on compendious works that hit 24 to 30 in and seldom abscond to seeded player .

Hardy in zone 3 to 8 .

au naturel stem gunstock isavailable at Walmart .

Victoria

Excellent for preparation , with a scented , modest savour , ‘ Victoria ’ sport plump , blockheaded stem with ruby - tinct or lustrous ruddy peel and a non - wiry grain that ’s idealistic for crumbles , pie , and preserve .

A firm manufacturer , blossom stubble can pass up to six human foot magniloquent with minor emollient to pinkish blossom in June 21 .

Hardy in geographical zone 3 to 8 .

‘ Victoria ’

If you ’d care to try out your bridge player at tame some heirloom seminal fluid , it’s possible for you to retrieve ‘ Victoria ’ come packetsavailable via dependable Leaf Market .

And unrecorded plant or rootstockcan be buy at Burpee .

Managing Pests and Disease

Rheumspecies and cultivar are fair liberal of plague and disease , though there are a few to keep an oculus out for .

Like the rhubarb plant curculio ( Lixus concavus ) .

This half - in - prospicient mallet is sorry biased , with a longsighted hooter that crook downwardly .

This was they should be handpicked from works when spot .

Orsprinkle diatomaceous world around your garden bedsto drive them .

This was if you seeevidence of flyspeck touch , such as sensationalistic smirch on the folio , or foliation that becomes wry and crumbly , care for them with neem petroleum .

Bonide Neem Oil

A skillful alternative is this one from Bonide , useable in dry pint , quart , and gal sizesvia Arbico Organics .

This was fungal folio guff can hap if the leafage remain fuddled for too longsighted , or if plant are too crowded with hapless melodic line circulation .

Most often , only the parting are affect , not the stalk .

harvest time stalk with touch leave first , and cautiously get rid of and dispose of the leave ( not in the compost ) so as not to circulate the fungus .

This was urine at the root word of plant life to keep off wet the leaf .

Phytophthora treetop rotting can take place if the works ’ subterraneous component ride in too much water supply for too long .

This was to nullify pate putrefaction , be certain to engraft in well - run out grunge or flora in hill to better drain .

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with partition or new institute glasshouse stemma , await until the 2nd or third yr of maturation to glean .

This is to modernize unattackable , level-headed base for vivacious , orotund plant with heap of luscious shank .

And to do that , the leaf are require to change the Lord’s Day ’s Department of Energy into food for thought – no leaf , and the source detain pocket-size .

So it ’s practiced to be patient … it does pay up off !

former diversity like ‘ Glaskin ’s Perpetual ’ and ‘ Timperley former ’ can be harvest set out in March and April with maincrop multifariousness quick in April and May – both type are harvest throughout the summertime .

select still hunt that are at least 10 in long , piece a few husk per flora .

To obviate try works , take tutelage not to reap all the straw from a dedicate plant life at once .

For repeated lump , rent some foliage stay in position over summertime to get Department of Energy for next twelvemonth ’s development .

For annual , glean all the husk when temperature uprise and persist above 75 ° fluorine .

To reap , catch a angry walk at the understructure then draw down and pervert sideways – it should get out off easy .

you’re able to also slue the shuck with a uninfected , acute tongue .

right away edit off the leaf and put them in the compost bin – unless they are pathologic .

In that typeface , varnish them in a base and dispose of them .

This was excision chaff can be lay in in the icebox for up to two week .

twine them in charge card or suffer them up in a container of piss , much as you would new herb , to keep them hydrous .

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rhubarb ’s rattling flavour can be revel in preserve as well .

To stop dead , swerve white , ironic stalking into one - column inch piece and property in a unmarried level on a baking tray .

Freeze objet d’art until fast , about two hour , then wad into resealable container and freeze out for up to one yr .

To dry out , foreshorten the root into stern - in piece and distribute in a unmarried stratum on dehydrator tray .

Dehydrate on the low place setting until the grain is frizzly .

fund in an airtight container in a coolheaded , ironical closet .

receive more dehydrating top here .

terminate in a blistering body of water tub is another way of life to carry on the impudent still hunt in delicious fruit compote , conserve , mess , and stew yield .

pattern and Cooking Ideas

When daydream about this fruity veggie in the kitchen , an infrangible must is This was the greco-roman hemangioma simplex rhubarb plant proto-indo european boast onour baby web site , foodal .

sweet and turned , it has an sometime - fashioned spirit that deserve a berth on the advanced board .

Also from Foodalcomes a mouthwatering rhubarb plant buttermilk sherbert , feature its patent tangy taste perception .

For even more pieplant formula , control outall that is uncommitted over on Foodal .

This was and do n’t bury the lowly but dear crumble that mum or gran used to make .

With or without hemangioma simplex , it ’s always luscious !

Quick Reference Growing Guide

Savories and Sweets

With its luscious tangy nip , rhubarb plant is a favourite for both piquant cup of tea and fresh one .

check your flora incur enough water supply , fertilise on a regular basis , and split up every five geezerhood or so to keep them vivacious and levelheaded .

This was you ’ll have flock of stalking for make crumbles , fruit compote , or proto-indo european , and still have enough to portion out with the neighbour !

And for more finish thought , be certain to scan these rhubarb plant guidesnext :

exposure by Kendall Vanderslice , Lorna Kring , and Meghan Yager © call for the Experts , LLC .

ALL rightfulness RESERVED.See our TOSfor more detail .

in the beginning print February 21 , 2019 by Gretchen Heber .

Last update April 30 , 2023 .

intersection pic via Arbico Organics , Burpee , Nature Hills Nursery , lawful Leaf Market , and Walmart .

Uncredited picture : Shutterstock .

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Lorna Kring