On Fri, 29 Apr 2005 17:43:38 +0100, Janet Baraclough wrote:

The message t
from "Mary Fisher" contains these words:

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?

No chance

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

I just pull them off (stalk and all, as soon as I notice them). It
may respond with more flowers, pull them off too. By removing the flower
you're encouraging the plant to put its energy into expanding the crowns
instead.

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

I don't think it is particularly premature, is it? Now I can't
remember which month mine flowers

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.

Champagne is not one of the most robust varieties, iirc.People often
put the rhubarb patch in some less-favoured corner of the garden, but it
really repays good conditions. I plant it above a seriously big hole
stuffed with as much manure, home made compost, old bones, roadkill,
woolly jumpers etc as I can lay hands on.

Janet

Pulled 8 flowering stems off my plant last weekend. I'm sure it wasn't
so early last year.

--
Tim C.