RHEUM

Sunset

Zones 2B, 3-7, 14-17, 31-41

Full, Partial

Ample

Leaves are poisonous if ingested.

Ornamental rhubarb
Polygonaceae
Perennials

The rhubarbs are stately plants, good focal points in well-watered perennial borders or at woodland edges. The large leaves arise directly from stout rhizomes; flowering stalks produce smaller leaves and prominent bracts. Blossoms are individually inconspicuous but are massed in tall, branching, plumy clusters, making a great show in late spring or early summer. Plant usually grow 4 to 10 ft. high and wide.

Grows best in deep, organically enriched soil.

Rheum palmatum

From China, Tibet. To 6–8 ft. tall, 6 ft. wide. Nearly round, 2–3-ft.-wide leaves are deeply cut into tooth-edged lobes. Red flower plumes to 2 ft. long. In variety –Atrosanguineum–, the entire plant is suffused with red. Leaves of R. p. tanguticum are less deeply cut than those of the species and often tinted purple; flowers may be white, pink, or red.