If you love to eat rhubarb, you will not love this post. You will be thinking WTF is she doing letting that rhubarb bolt. But this bitch hates to eat rhubarb. She thinks the taste, even with the 60 pounds of sugar that people use to cook it, is a most bitter and disgusting experience for her tongue.
When we moved to our current property twenty-seven years ago it came with a patch of rhubarb that I planned to get rid of but ignored for a few years because there were other things that needed attention. When I decided to start gardening on a major scale, my oldest stepson bought me a wonderful gardening book for Christmas that became my bible: Perennials for Every Purpose, by Larry Hodgson. The late Larry Hodgson, he passed away a few years ago, was a Canadian, based in Quebec. He understood our northern climate. He dumbed gardening down, which was perfect for me, a new gardener. His writing was also witty and practical making his book a very enjoyable experience. I have referred to that book so often over the years that the pages have started falling out.
Larry placed rhubarb in the Perennials & Grasses for Dramatic Impact section, and that’s where my love for rhubarb began.
Rhubarb starts pushing through the ground early (April in my climate) and before you know it there are leaves and then stocks that are growing so fast that you want to check them every morning.
The leaves are huge, heart shaped and beautiful. Some people actually use them as molds to create concrete garden ornaments or paths.
The stocks shoot up to six feet or more in height and are covered with small white flowers that pollinators love.
The impact of my rhubarb plant in bloom is that of a drama queen and is something I look forward to every year. Who doesn’t want a little drama in their garden?
Thank you for reading
Photos: Jenn Stone
Recent posts:
Still Bitchy After 60 Blog 
I love the dramatic look of rhubarb in the garden and I sometimes make rhubarb sauce that isn’t bad. I discovered that I have a bad reaction to the toxic leaves and so does my grandson, so it looks like the plant may have to go.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh no! But yes, it may have to go. Rhubarb leaves can be used to make pesticides so I wouldn’t want to ingest them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, the reaction is for contact. I wouldn’t try and eat it 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
the leaves that is 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting.
I despise eating it as well, but never realized it was such a showy plant.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes I’d rather look at it. It gets to be a diva for a few weeks every year.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I adore rhubarb. My parents grew a big patch of it so I grew up eating it fresh. I never thought about trying to grow it here. Neighbors attempted to grow it, but it never took to our clay ground. [Or they didn’t know what they were doing, could be?]
LikeLiked by 1 person
I believe that every one tastes things differently and this changes as we age. I also find cranberries bitter and don’t eat them either.
If you do want to try growing rhubarb, pick up a bag of garden soil and fill a generous hole with it instead of clay when you are transplanting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll admit i’ve never tasted rhubarb, but the plant you have grown is beautiful!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well you now know my opinion of the taste. Others would tell you a different story.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I inherited a rhubarb plant at my house in MN and moved it to a more sunny spot where it thrived. I was thrilled to have it at that time. But after more than 20 years I got tired of it. I found several recipes and there is one for rhubarb apple crisp that people rave about and it is good. I just got tired of it. I never let those flowers bloom because I didn’t need more of it but it sure is pretty in your garden.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just cut it back when it starts to go to seed. It’s been around for many years and I only have the one plant.
LikeLike
It’s a very showy plant for sure and makes a good ornamental. You definitely don’t have to eat those stalks if you don’t like them but I’ve known people who love to eat it raw with a bit of salt on it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
My dad used to eat it raw. He loved it that way.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My garden is only big enough for one rhubarb plant – but I do love to eat it and that would be just enough for me. My Mum and me used to eat it raw! No sugar, nothing. Bet that made you cringe just thinking about it 😉
Mine didn’t get sunshine at my last house, it was in permanent shade. It used to grow quite tall but never really ripened to red stalks and I never saw flowers on it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha ha. My dad used to eat it raw and yes, it made me cringe.
LikeLiked by 1 person
When I saw your post was about rhubarb, I immediately had flashbacks of having to eat it as a child. I haven’t heaten it in the last 50 years, but the thought of it still disgusts me. Doesn’t it also seem weird to you that we’re sticking vegetables in pies? Who thought that was a good idea?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes! The only veggies I want in a pie have to also have meat and gravy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I may be the odd one out. I love rhubarb, but have never grown it. My mom used to but must have cut down the flower stalks because I don’t remember them. It does look pretty. Maggie
LikeLiked by 1 person
No I don’t think you are because a lot of people love rhubarb. I just don’t happen to be one of them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We haven’t planted much this year as it’s a new garden for us, but the first thing we did was plant rhubarb. I agree with you that it’s decorative, but I also think it’s delicious. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Then you get to enjoy it both ways. Double the appreciation.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We are thinking up a jungle theme for the new garden and it will fit in well. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
That sounds fun.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It will be in the end. I’m still struggling with where the sun goes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Rhubarb doesn’t grow here so I’m not sure I’ve ever tasted it. But, the plant is lovely!
LikeLike
My grandma used to make fresh strawberry rhubarb preserves from her garden. Would take our heads off until we added gobs of sugar. Not sure if we went past the saturation point but we did enjoy the taste of summer! 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
🤣. Gobs of sugar would definitely be required.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We don’t eat rhubarb for the same reason as you do. We like the plant and have it growing at 4 places in our garden. We like its big leaves and its white flowers. But we don’t think that’s bitchy, not at all.
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Four rhubarbs. They must look amazing in bloom.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Indeed, they do.
LikeLiked by 1 person