Rheum x hybridum 'Timperley Early'
Cooking rhubarb
Also known as Rheum rhabarbarum 'Timperley Early'
- Height × spread
- 1m × 1.5m
- Position
- Full sun
- Hardiness
- Cold to -15C (RHS H5)
Availability
Please ask in store about availability
Many plants are seasonal. Call 01234 567890 to check current stock.
About this plant
This dates to the middle part of the 20th century and is an early variety that has red stems, green within. Rhubarb has ornamental qualities with its enormous wrinkled leaves, and rhubarb clumps may be a feature for decades. The flowers of culinary rhubarb are removed. General care: Although classed as a vegetable rhubarb is served as a dessert, sweetened with sugar to make it palatable. It is harvested when young, cutting off the entire stem below the new foliage and discarding the leaf before the stalk is cooked. Old stalks are poisonous.
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Variegated
- No
- Scent
- No
- Shape
- Dome
- Height
- 1m
- Spread
- 1.5m
- Evergreen
- Deciduous
- Sun or shade
- Likes full sun
- Soil type
- Loam (normal)
- Soil pH
- All types
- Drainage
- Moisture retentive soil
- Hardiness
- Cold to -15C (RHS H5)
- Borders & containers
- Borders
- Use for
- Deer resistant, Rabbit resistant
- Hazards
- No
- Pet safe
- Yes – listed in our pet-safe plants
Spring
Spring · Outdoors
Feed with rotted manure
Give the plant a good feed with well rotted manure. Be careful not to bury the plant base, especially where it may have been grafted. Spread the manure around the root area, but not over its crown.
Rotted manure is often used for plants that are termed 'hungry feeders'. It provides them with a nutrient boost which should benefit flower production.
Spring-Autumn · Outdoors
Water to keep the soil moist
For best results, this plant needs soil that is always moist. Water deeply and regularly as soon as soil appears dry. Even for established plants in the ground, a dry week can cause problems with some soils. Check plants in pots more often, especially in hot weather. Or install an automatic irrigation system which will do the hard work for you, even when you are away on holiday.
Without regular watering some plants never fully regain their beauty.
Spring - early-mid · Planting
Divide when too large
The plant can be divided if it becomes too large or another plant is required. This may involve physically dividing the clump in two, removing offsets or small bulbs or dividing rhizomes. The new plants can be grown in pots or planted in the ground.
Found in
More Rheum
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Rhubarb, Ornamental Rhubarb
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Rheum palmatum 'Atrosanguineum'
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Rheum palmatum var. tanguticum
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