Gunnera update

[whis4ey]

as it looks today

[Mikey]

Beautiful plant!  Much too arid for me to grow a healthy one here.  Thanks for sharing.  Here I am at a botanical garden in San Francisco standing on a boardwalk that ran through a bog garden filled with Gunnera.  It appears I live 500 miles too far south......

[miguynmkoi]

Beautiful plant.  I like the long pine cone shaped blooms.  I can't believe how tall they are in Mike's photo.  Looking good Mike. 

[Jerry]

They often sell them at my fave nursery.  They have zero chance of surviving here.
Hot and dry won't do it.   I would love one.  Nice pic mIKE.

[Mikey]

Sam: I've seen photos of snow on your website.  Does the Gunnera freeze to the ground each winter?

[whis4ey]

We cover it each year with its own leaves Mikey.  It is never cold enough to 'freeze to the ground'

[jw]

Hello Whis4ey    Geez I always thought it got mighty cold in Ireland for some reason. How cold do you get? So Gunnera is related to the Rhubarb eh? If so for those who want a nice smaller plant that has nice colored stems and big (but not so big as to take up too much space) maybe a nice rhubarb plant would work? Well anyway I just might try them both. 

[whis4ey]

The Gunnera is not related to the rhubarb  ...  quite a distinct species
I certainly wouldn't like to try a Gunnera pie and custard
Ireland is warmed a little during the winter by the warm Gulf Stream.  temperatures might get down occasionally to around minus 12 Centigrade (unsure what that is in Faranheit)  The coldest I remember is about minus 15C

[kitfoxdrvr]

The Gunnera is not related to the rhubarb  ...  quite a distinct species
I certainly wouldn't like to try a Gunnera pie and custard
Ireland is warmed a little during the winter by the warm Gulf Stream.  temperatures might get down occasionally to around minus 12 Centigrade (unsure what that is in Faranheit)  The coldest I remember is about minus 15C

That would be Zone 8 for us here in the States, but with much different summers, at least than our Southeast zone 8!  Maybe similar to the Pacific Northwest coastline.  I saw a gardening show a few years back, maybe Victory Garden on PBS, that gave a tour of a garden in Ireland that grew many tropical plants year-round, it may have been Vandeleur.  Does that sound right?

Steve

[whis4ey]

Never heard of that Steve, but the south of Ireland could probably grow many such plants year round
We here are a Zone 8 with the coastal areas a Zone 9

[jw]

Well when I did a conversion of Celsius to Fahrenheit it came up with 12 C = about 53 F. So we got down to -06 F here which says it would be -21 C where you are. I'm up in the northern part of Washington maybe 50 or so miles from the Canadian border. Last winter was an unusually cold one for here so I think Gunnera would grow here and maybe someone should try to make a pie out of it for kicks  Let me know how it turns out 

[maryvonne]

Your Gunnera is off to a good start already. Ours is just starting to come out of the ground. They are very impressive plants. I get lots of comments on ours.

Maryvonne