Rhubarb

Try Rhubarb, A Big-Leaved Perennial Favorite!

Unusual stem crops, Rhubarb plants are often used as fruits, but they are actually perennial vegetables!

No self-respecting homestead or farmstead over the last couple hundred years would be without a large Rhubarb path alongside the sunny foundation, at the base of a fenceline or rock wall, or in the corner of a vegetable garden!

Featuring large, textured and ruffled leaves and blocky celery-like stems, Rhubarb plants make a lovely ornamental addition to any garden! Growing like a big ruffled Hosta, Rhubarb are as pretty as any large foliage ornamental with a tasty addition of edible stems!

While the roots have been used in medicinal preparations for centuries, and the leafy parts of the plant are considered toxic for ingestion - it's the plump succulent stems that are the real summer treats!

Chipman's Canada Red Rhubarb Plant, or Canadian Red features bright red stems through and through, while Victoria Rhubarb can have greenish interior stems with a red blush.

Chopped and added to pies, baked goods, breads, salads, wine, sauces, preserves, and syrups! The tart flavor is enhanced with sweetener but remains tangy! The stems can also be chopped and frozen for use year-round! In Europe, the stems are peeled and eaten salted, as well as in a myriad of other ways around the world!

Rhubarb Care & Harvesting

We sell Rhubarb plants as bare root divisions in spring, but we also sell container-grown plants that can be shipped and planted all throughout the growing season. Rhubarb is best grown in hardiness zones 3-8.

Rhubarb needs a sunny location and demands it is well-drained soil. Rhubarb is an easy-to-care-for and long-lived plant, and the only attention it generally needs is some watering during the first year in your garden! Mulch the site well with 3-4 inches of mulch around the site, which helps keep the foliage and stems cleaner.

Begin to harvest the stems once they get to be longer than a foot or so. Grab the stem close to the ground, and carefully pull individual stems out of the clump. Always harvest the oldest fattest stems now, but leave the younger and smaller stems in place to harvest at a later date. Don't cut the stems out as the most tender part of each stem is the part that gets pulled from the crown of the plants - so don't cut the bottom off. But do cut those tops close to the leaves as they are not edible.

If any flowering stems develop, carefully remove them right down to the soil before they bloom to keep the energy going into the stems. Trimming them out with garden pruners or a sharp knife.

Tasty Ruffled Perennial Rhubarb Plants!

New and experienced gardeners rejoice! Order your own red or green stemmed Rhubarb plants today from Nature Hills and enjoy these unique perennial vegetable plants for yourself (and friends and family) for years to come! 

Nature Hills ships quality bareroot Rhubarb plants to your doorstep at the proper planting time for your growing zone! Call (402) 934-8116 to order today!