Been growing Rhubarb most of my life, even had a few prizes for it. Seen one or two plants go to seed in the past. But this year nearly all of it has bolted I know I didn't water as often as I could have last summer, but it wasn't really any drier than it usually is in this part of Kent. Anyone else had the same thing this year?
@Zigs, That's a handsome rhubarb plant! The variety "Victoria" bloomed for me many times. Now I have a shorter, thicker stem, very red stem variety I don't know the name. It's bloomed too. I cut off the flower stem to concentrate photosynthetic energy into the root for next year's leaves. Yum, rhubarb pie! Rhubarb syrup! Rhubarb jam!
My rhubarb is stunted this year because of the weather. Hopefully now that we have some sunshine it will begin to shoot up.
those are beautiful plants. I have never grown this before, but my great aunt did and she made strawberry rhubarb pie, she would get strawberries and rhubarb from the garden. I only had it once when I was visiting them when i was 12 or so.
This is a rhubarb divisions that I made last year, then moved again this winter. I fed it with some vegetable fertilizer. This is one of the original bunches. Soon it will be ready for some harvest!
Zigs put some of his rhubarb in my white/pink flower bed. It is also bolting. I shall leave it for the flowers - and heaven help him if he cuts off the flowers
Ta @Daniel W Most of mine are Victoria, but there's a few Glaskin's Perpetual, Champagne and some Russian Giants in there. Not too impressed with the Russian Giants
Those rhubarb flowers are quite interesting. I think they are what some people call "architectural". I remove them because of my selfish interest in eating more rhubarb.
I also love to eat rhubarb, especially with ginger, but we do have quite a few plants, and I like the flowers for the plant on my flower bed. It is definitely what I'd call architectural
Mine never have. They grow just fine, but I think the big flower stem and flowers reduce energy that would go into making the next crop.