Farm1 wrote:
"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
[...]
It isn't so much about climate or temp, as rhubarb is a cool
temperate crop -- they even grow it in the Faroes -- it really is
mainly about the darkness, so they get pure pink tender stems.

But what of the taste? Is it significantly different to the field
grown stuff?
[...]

I've never bought rhubarb in my life, but I imagine it's the same as
home-grown blanched: milder flavour, less acid.

--
Mike.

If you look at RHS plant-finder, under Rheum x hybridum "Champagne" you will find the wording "tentatively accepted name", which I suppose means that it isn't a well-defined variety. Two possibilities occur to me

(1) it is Stein's Champagne, an established variety with AGM, but very rarely available.

(2) Champagne rhubarb was used as a synonym for forced rhubarb. Then people turned up wanting to buy it as if it was a variety, and some unscrupulous seller offered them whatever they had to hand and called it Champagne. Informal networks then spread it out to people's gardens. (With easy-to-propagate plants, this is a remarkably effective method - a rare Chinese plant previously unknown to science or nurseries was discovered about 10 years ago as a houseplant common in Scandinavia, and traced back to a missionary who brought it back early in the 20th century as a memento of his stay. Likewise, the prolifically self-seeding giant Echium (E. pinninana) is rapidly becoming very common in England without it being easily available in garden centres as more of us get it to over-winter.)

My father claims to have "Champagne rhubarb" in his garden. It is more tender to the bite than my Timperleys, but so it ought to be growing it on moist Somerset clay as opposed to my dry stony soil. I ought to take a division and see if I can spot any difference.

Rhubarb does not come true to type from seeds.

So you might be wasting your time, go for roots any day.

"echinosum" wrote in message
...

Farm1 Wrote:
"misterroy" wrote in message
ups.com...-
Hi, i've tried many of the online stores, and none have them,-
(unwins-
say they have, but there is none in stock), anyone here willing
to-
sell-
me some?-

I'd never heard of "champagne" rhubarb before so did a google for
this wonderous new variety that obviously isn't available in my
country.

I found this site:
http://tinyurl.com/yxeknq
&frame=Right&Src=/edible.nsf/pages/ed.1407!opendocument
which suggests that it's merely blanched rhubarb.

Is this right?
If you look at RHS plant-finder, under Rheum x hybridum "Champagne"
you
will find the wording "tentatively accepted name", which I suppose
means
that it isn't a well-defined variety.

I'm not in the UK so don't have one.

Two possibilities occur to me

(1) it is Stein's Champagne, an established variety with AGM, but
very
rarely available.

(2) Champagne rhubarb was used as a synonym for forced rhubarb. Then
people turned up wanting to buy it as if it was a variety, and some
unscrupulous seller offered them whatever they had to hand and
called
it Champagne. Informal networks then spread it out to people's
gardens.
(With easy-to-propagate plants, this is a remarkably effective
method -
a rare Chinese plant previously unknown to science or nurseries was
discovered about 10 years ago as a houseplant common in Scandinavia,
and traced back to a missionary who brought it back early in the
20th
century as a memento of his stay.

I love stories like that :-)) What was the plant do you know?

Likewise, the prolifically
self-seeding giant Echium (E. pinninana) is rapidly becoming very
common in England without it being easily available in garden
centres
as more of us get it to over-winter.)

My father claims to have "Champagne rhubarb" in his garden. It is
more
tender to the bite than my Timperleys, but so it ought to be growing
it
on moist Somerset clay as opposed to my dry stony soil. I ought to
take
a division and see if I can spot any difference.

I think that conditions do have a lot to do with good produce but I
also think that getting a crown or 2 of good varieties is also a
winner. My soil is also dry and stony (and it's also 'new' soil,
meaning it was only cleared of native vegetation in the 1960s and has
been used for unimproved pasture grazing since then so I've got a LOT
of soil improvement to do still). Feeding and watering does make a
difference but I'd kill for good soil.

Pilea peperomioides, see here for the story, my summary above is a bit inaccurate I now realise on glancing again at it: http://www.wildchicken.com/nature/ga...ese_puzzle.htm

"echinosum" wrote in message
Farm1 Wrote:
[snip] (With easy-to-propagate plants, this is a remarkably
effective
method a rare Chinese plant previously unknown to science or
nurseries
was
discovered about 10 years ago as a houseplant common in
Scandinavia,
and traced back to a missionary who brought it back early in the
20th century as a memento of his stay.

I love stories like that :-)) What was the plant do you know?
[snip]
Pilea peperomioides, see here for the story, my summary above is a
bit
inaccurate I now realise on glancing again at it:
http://tinyurl.com/y4kd86

Thanks for that. Interesting (and your recall was near enough) :-))




--
echinosum

In article , stevesmith
writes
Rhubarb does not come true to type from seeds.

So you might be wasting your time, go for roots any day.


I found it difficult to get the champagne variety rhubarb plants.
Apparently there are three or four varieties but not many people stock
them even though they are often recommended as the best tasting types of
Rhubarb. I believe Chenies in Buckinghamshire grows Buckinghamshire
Champagne rhubarb but we could never get any offcuts

janet

--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In article , echinosum
writes

If you look at RHS plant-finder, under Rheum x hybridum "Champagne" you
will find the wording "tentatively accepted name", which I suppose
means
that it isn't a well-defined variety. Two possibilities occur to me

(1) it is Stein's Champagne, an established variety with AGM, but very
rarely available.

(2) Champagne rhubarb was used as a synonym for forced rhubarb. Then
people turned up wanting to buy it as if it was a variety, and some
unscrupulous seller offered them whatever they had to hand and called
it Champagne. Informal networks then spread it out to people's gardens.
(With easy-to-propagate plants, this is a remarkably effective method -
a rare Chinese plant previously unknown to science or nurseries was
discovered about 10 years ago as a houseplant common in Scandinavia,
and traced back to a missionary who brought it back early in the 20th
century as a memento of his stay. Likewise, the prolifically
self-seeding giant Echium (E. pinninana) is rapidly becoming very
common in England without it being easily available in garden centres
as more of us get it to over-winter.)

My father claims to have "Champagne rhubarb" in his garden. It is more
tender to the bite than my Timperleys, but so it ought to be growing it
on moist Somerset clay as opposed to my dry stony soil. I ought to take
a division and see if I can spot any difference.



There are about three varieties of champagne Rhubarb (as opposed to just
forcing stuff) however I only found Tweedy's (BIG COINCIDENCE!) Fruit
suppliers in Scotland had any. They have at least one type I believe
though it's difficult to find out as their catalogue wasn't great online
or by post.

There is a variety called Bucks or Buckinghamshire champagne Rhubarb but
that's grown only at Chenies as far as I know.

--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In message
, Farm1
writes

"echinosum" wrote in message
...

Farm1 Wrote:
"misterroy" wrote in message
ups.com...-
Hi, i've tried many of the online stores, and none have them,-
(unwins-
say they have, but there is none in stock), anyone here willing
to-
sell-
me some?-

I'd never heard of "champagne" rhubarb before so did a google for
this wonderous new variety that obviously isn't available in my
country.

I found this site:
http://tinyurl.com/yxeknq
&frame=Right&Src=/edible.nsf/pages/ed.1407!opendocument
which suggests that it's merely blanched rhubarb.

Is this right?
If you look at RHS plant-finder, under Rheum x hybridum "Champagne"
you
will find the wording "tentatively accepted name", which I suppose
means
that it isn't a well-defined variety.

I'm not in the UK so don't have one.

PlantFinder is available on-line. Follow your nose from www.rhs.org.uk
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

Hi all, thanks for the help, now that we've found sources on the RHS
site, the general reading of the comments says get crowns, which I'll
probably do, but I've got some different questions now:

1. The seeds wont all be true, out of the packet, how many will be
true?
2. When will I know they are true?
3. How will I know they are true?
4. The untrue plants, will they be ay use?


Janet Tweedy wrote:

In article , echinosum
writes

If you look at RHS plant-finder, under Rheum x hybridum "Champagne" you
will find the wording "tentatively accepted name", which I suppose
means
that it isn't a well-defined variety. Two possibilities occur to me

(1) it is Stein's Champagne, an established variety with AGM, but very
rarely available.

(2) Champagne rhubarb was used as a synonym for forced rhubarb. Then
people turned up wanting to buy it as if it was a variety, and some
unscrupulous seller offered them whatever they had to hand and called
it Champagne. Informal networks then spread it out to people's gardens.
(With easy-to-propagate plants, this is a remarkably effective method -
a rare Chinese plant previously unknown to science or nurseries was
discovered about 10 years ago as a houseplant common in Scandinavia,
and traced back to a missionary who brought it back early in the 20th
century as a memento of his stay. Likewise, the prolifically
self-seeding giant Echium (E. pinninana) is rapidly becoming very
common in England without it being easily available in garden centres
as more of us get it to over-winter.)

My father claims to have "Champagne rhubarb" in his garden. It is more
tender to the bite than my Timperleys, but so it ought to be growing it
on moist Somerset clay as opposed to my dry stony soil. I ought to take
a division and see if I can spot any difference.



There are about three varieties of champagne Rhubarb (as opposed to just
forcing stuff) however I only found Tweedy's (BIG COINCIDENCE!) Fruit
suppliers in Scotland had any. They have at least one type I believe
though it's difficult to find out as their catalogue wasn't great online
or by post.

There is a variety called Bucks or Buckinghamshire champagne Rhubarb but
that's grown only at Chenies as far as I know.

--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

misterroy wrote:
Hi all, thanks for the help, now that we've found sources on the RHS
site, the general reading of the comments says get crowns, which I'll
probably do, but I've got some different questions now:

1. The seeds wont all be true, out of the packet, how many will be
true?

Impossible to say; in a strict sense quite possibly none of them.

2. When will I know they are true?

Not till you've eaten some and observed the plants' habits -- three
years or more, I suppose.

3. How will I know they are true?

If they're identical in all respects to a known genuine specimen. If
you can grow your seedlings on for long enough, I'd say look for their
qualities -- vigour, colour, non-stringiness, low acidity -- rather
than concentrating on matching a particular variety. It's unrealistic
to grow them all on for long enough to select for non-bolting, but that
should really be a big factor too.

4. The untrue plants, will they be ay use?

When I did it, I got far more plants than I could possibly use, and
discarded most of them. I imagine some of the discards would have been
positively sub-standard, but of course I don't know. I just selected
the ones that seemed to be producing the most stems by the end of their
first season. I can't remember now, but I think some were a better
colour than others, too.

I didn't get my scanties in a twist about it: growing conditions are
probably more important than variety. This may even be true when it
comes to earliness, too: the big point of rhubarb is that it gives you
something fruity before anything else, and if you treat a nondescript
variety right it will probably give you a crop just as soon as an
"official" early variety left to its own devices -- or sooner.

As I said earlier, it was good fun, but wouldn't have been sensible if
I hadn't been a bit short of upfront money. The resulting plants didn't
seem any different from anybody else's rhubarb in the end.

--
Mike.