One of the most amazing plants you will ever see is gunnera manicata.
Otherwise known as giant rhubarb.
It is native to Brazil and Chile, but it seems to thrive in the temperate climes of southern England.
When we viewed this plantation at Trebah the plants were still emerging after having died completely back in the winter.
Gunnera likes its feet wet. It was especially fresh and green on this very rainy day.
The leaves start like this. (Looks like a creepy green monkey paw to us.)
Start to unfurl.
Quickly!
And as our beautiful assistant is demonstrating, they become gigantic in no time.
The leaves can easily reach 6 feet across and 10 feet tall.
One U.S. seed company is cleverly advertising the plants as dinosaur food.
We can get behind that vision.
If you don't want to wait for seeds to sprout, your own plantation can start right here with a small purchase from the garden gift shop.
Plant and then stand back!
5 comments:
Whoa! NIMBY!
Educational and pretty!
Wow. Almost scary.
Gunnera flourish in Victoria BC on Vancouver Island. I took a plant home once and it lasted long enough to become too big for my yard, then I think the frost got it, but that was not really too disappointing because it really didn't belong there!
Wow! Is this the thing we call devil's club? Is it spiky? I have seen ginormous plants like this with spikes all over them in the BC wild (coast and north) but don't remember it in our yard. Definitely dinosaurish.
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