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Readers share their stories about the resilience of rhubarb

February 22, 2025

In response to a recent column on rhubarb I received several emails regarding local success with this plant, such as the following from Chuck Aardema, who gardens in Bellflower. It is a testimonial to rhubarb’s durability and longevity.

“I have been raised around rhubarb all my life. My mother and father were great gardeners and fruit growers just in their own backyard. We had a large rhubarb plant in the garden all the time. My father hated the plant which he even tried to eliminate by pouring his car drain oil around it. Somehow it always survived. Mom, who had grown it in Minnesota, made cobblers, pies, breads, jams and other desserts from the red stalks. When mother was not able to live alone anymore we moved her into an assisted living facility. I dug her beloved rhubarb plant out of her garden and transplanted it into her sister’s backyard where it grew to even greater width. When her sister passed away I once again dug it up and moved it to our own backyard where it now has been growing for another 9 years.

“I have removed pieces of the root from time to time to give to other family members. My wife and I enjoy the stalks in sauces, pies, cakes, bars, and jams. Mom had her beloved plant ever since I can remember and I still have the same plant today. This week I will turn 78 years old so you know how old it is. I have it planted in a flower bed against an east facing wall. I keep it fertilized and well mulched and watered. It now reaches about 4.5 feet across and at least 3 feet tall with large vibrant green leaves. There used to be a large Dutch community in my area and rhubarb was grown by many. My wife once took a large quantity of cut stalks to a women’s auxiliary meeting and put a sign on them that they were free. It almost started a riot with the women competing for them.”

Note from this account that rhubarb can be propagated from root cuttings.

Doris, who gardens in Upland, describes her rhubarb adventure as follows: ”I transplanted an old ignored plant from my grandson’s garden two years ago. After dividing it and cleaning it up I now have about ten plants. I grew up in Wisconsin where we had it and I enjoyed it. But being in Southern California for the last 50 years I had never seen it. I still don’t know what I should be doing but it is thriving. However, the stalks are quite thin with a mild flavor. The first year when I transplanted them I created shade and they did well. The second year I did not shade them and they did well. This year I cut them all back and they are coming back abundantly. I have fertilized them with worm castings.”

A number of factors could be responsible for your thin stalks. Since your transplants came from “an old ignored plant,” they would be in recovery from the original plant’s neglected state. Furthermore, you want to pay attention to watering and organic content of the soil since plants in dry soil or soil lacking in compost may produce thin stalks. Shoots that are overly abundant, especially when first emerging in the spring, unless some are cut out, may not develop into thick, robust stalks. Plants that are less than two years old are often simply left alone. Harvesting stalks during this period would mean slower root growth since there are fewer leaves to send carbohydrate down below for establishment of a strong root system which would lead to sturdier stalks later on.

Peggy Stewart shared rhubarb and avocado growing memories and her own gardening experience as well: “My mother-in-law grew rhubarb in her San Marino garden in the 1970s. I cannot tell you her specific growing techniques except that she watered well and used mulch. She also grew a legendary avocado tree, probably a Fuerte, whose fruit she counted at 750 one year. She gave it two inches of water a week and used urea for fertilizer. I live on the bay in Balboa and have a small patio garden. However, except for some lavender, I grow only California natives. So many grow on coastal bluffs and are happy at the beach.”

Regarding your last statement about natives being “happy at the beach,” we should bear in mind that the inland climate of most Southern California residents differs significantly from that along the coast. I have a serious gardening friend who tried to grow a ground hugging Ceanothus, native to the California coast, on a slope that was only 10 miles from the beach. For several years, this Ceanothus stubbornly refused to grow, exhibited some dieback, and finally had to be removed. Just because a plant is native to California does not mean it will thrive in your garden. You need to pay careful attention to each plant’s requirements for growth based on its habitat as opposed to the microclimate in your own garden.

This perspective is also important when evaluating the appropriateness of Mediterranean climate plants for our gardens. Mediterranean climates include, first of all, the climate of lands that border the Mediterranean Sea, but also that of southwestern Australia, South Africa, Chile, and Southern California. It is generally assumed that plants which thrive in one Mediterranean climate will thrive in all of them, but this is not necessarily so. Of all five Mediterranean climates, that of Southern California is the harshest when our combination of low rainfall and elevated summer temperatures is taken into account. What this means is that a plant which never needs to be watered in South Africa may require regular summer irrigation in our part of the world.

Baccharis Centennial, a species of coyote brush, produces a glorious bloom in the winter season. (Photo by Joshua Siskin)

California native of the week: Before people started to design gardens with California native plants specifically in mind, there was dwarf coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis). During those long years of drought in the late ’80s and early ’90s, coyote brush was eagerly sought and widely planted as a ground cover because of its capacity to live in the virtual absence of water. People did not really know or care where it came from as long as it lived up to its reputation for growing into a dense mat and thriving a whole summer without irrigation. Coyote brush is, in fact, one of the most widely seen of all California native plants. It grows throughout the chaparral and canyons of our own area. The growth habit of coyote brush becomes flatter as you get closer to the coast. It is dioecious, meaning there are separate female and male plants. Only males are clonally propagated since the flowers on female plants are considered to be unattractive although certain larger coyote brush selection in full bloom — such as Baccharis Centennial — are a glorious sight during the winter season. Twin Peaks No.2 and Pigeon Point are the lowest-growing and the most popular of the ground-hugging coyote brushes, not exceeding two feet tall. To look their best, in the hottest weather, they will benefit from a single monthly soaking and yet, once established, will never need more than that and, in fact, will survive with no water at all.

Pleasant childhood memories associated with plants or gardening persist. Do you have any such memories to share? If so, you are invited to send them along to [email protected]. Your questions and comments as well gardening conundrums and successes are always welcome.

Readers share their stories about the resilience of rhubarb Orange County Register

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Readers share their stories about the resilience of rhubarb

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