In message , Mary
Fisher writes
My 'Champagne' rhubarb (crown bought last year) is developing a flower bud.

I've grown rhubarb for years, of unknown source, and have never seen this in
my garden (although of course I've seen it a lot in the fields).

What I'd like to know is will the plant die after flowering?

Should I attempt to stop it from flowering by cutting off the flowering
stem? I wouldn't have thought that would work!

Has anyone any idea what could have spurred this premature maturity?

I bought three crowns, one simply didn't sprout, the other isn't doing
much.They haven't been forced, I didn't have a good crop from them last
year. All in all I was very disappointed both by the service I got from the
supplier and the material supplied.

Mary



One of my rhubarb plants has flowered this year, I planted 6 as seeds
last year and only this one has flowered. As I want decent rhubarb (for
wine) I've chopped the stem off, as apparently after flowering/seeding
the plants don't recover/perform very well.

--
Mike Buckley
RD350LC2
GSF600S
http://www.toastyhamster.org
BONY#38