Rhubarb ( Rheum rhabarbarum ) grow all over the station up here in Alaska , and no wonder : it ’s a supremely cold - unfearing works , although most cultivars prosper best in USDA Hardiness Zones 3 - 8 .
Like Apium graveolens dulce , this plant features a firm leafstalk , or stalk , which is edible . Oh , so very edible . specially when you bestow wads of sugar to it .
However the leaf are not edible , as they contain high amount of money of oxalic dot as well ascalciumand atomic number 19 oxalate salts , conjointly called oxalate .
Photo by Meghan Yager
While it ’s technically a vegetable , it ’s almost always used as a fruit in cooking , used in sweet , or sweet - and - tart recipe .
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My Alaskan champion all have pieplant raise somewhere in their G or gardens – sometimes planted by them , often planted by whoever first live on the property .
Photo by Meghan Yager
It says something about rhubarb that plant keep on bring out Proto-Indo European - quick stalks for up to ten days .
And here in the North , weuseour pie plant . Just about every Alaskan enjoys rhubarb pie , especially with a huge portion of vanilla ice cream .
Whether you live in Alaska or somewhere much fond , there ’s a pieplant variety for you to grow in your own garden . you’re able to even force stalk production in the winter .
Let ’s get growing !
Rhubarb Varieties For Your Garden
A Quick Primer
Rhubarb generally grows best in well - draining , fecund soil that ’s rich in constituent matter . uniform moisture is important , but it does n’t care wet feet . Container produce is an option . Grown as a perennial in cooler regions , it can be grown as a wintertime annual in southern orbit .
These plants like to spread out , so you ’ll ask to space them 3 - 4 feet asunder when planting .
There are four ways to found this tasty pie filling .
If you want to geta head - starting signal on your harvesting , it ’s best to opt for divisions , baby’s room startle , or bare root balls instead of sowing seeds .
Want More Growing Advice ?
look to add up this tasty veg to your garden?See our everlasting rhubarb growing guide here .
13 of the Best Rhubarb Cultivars
There you have it ! Now , lease ’s find the best cultivar for you . Some are heirlooms and others are hybrids – I ’ll let you know which is which as we take more about them .
1. Cherry Red
With its brilliant cherry stalks , the hybrid mixture ‘ Cherry Red ’ ( R. x hybridum ) lives up to its name – plus it ’s one of the sweetest and least sourish varieties around .
This makes it ideal for those who have never tasted pieplant before and are feel anxious about the magnificently puckery nature of the veg . And as a bonus , you ’ll expend less kale in your pie formula – maybe .
‘ Cherry Red ’ boom inUSDA Hardiness Zones2 - 8 , but it particularly get laid the rolled mound and cooler mood of northern California . uprise up to three feet improbable and wide at adulthood , it makes a dramatic ornamental industrial plant , though I do n’t see how anyone couldnotcut stalks for Proto-Indo European , too !
Plant ‘ Cherry Red ’ in full sun or part shade for best results , and revel fresh spliff from April to June .
2. Chipman’s Canada Red
Also known as Canadian Red , ‘ Chipman ’s Canada Red ’ is another ruby - colored cultivar . This one features big , succulent stalks , matures to three to four feet magniloquent and broad , and thrives in Zones 3 - 8 . Developed in parky Winnipeg , Manitoba , Canada , this extra sweet variety is unadulterated for northern nurseryman .
‘ Chipman ’s Canada Red ’
Plant outdoors in the dip , wintertime , or other outpouring ( as shortly as the ground thaws ) . harvest time from April to June , but hold back until at least one class has come about since you planted the crown for the best yield .
you may purchase a 2 - 4 year old plant in a # 2 containerfrom Nature Hills Nursery .
3. Crimson Red
The favorite cultivar of the Pacific Northwest , ‘ Crimson Red ’ sleep together moistly cool temperature . The bright crimson stalks will remain bright crimson and happy throughout all the drizzly Oregon and Washington day , so you PNW folks can rejoice .
‘ Crimson Red ’
Of course , you may maturate odoriferous - tart ‘ Crimson Red ’ even if you do n’t live in the Pacific Northwest , as it thrives in Zones 3 - 8 and sleep together sunshine just as much as swarm cover .
You ’ll be able to enjoy your own fresh ‘ Crimson Red ’ in just one year . Like other cultivars , it can uprise up to three to four foot improbable and three foot wide .
Harvest tasty ‘ Crimson Red ’ stalk from April to June for the sweetest flavor .
you may get spare root ball to plant in the autumn or two to four week before the average last wintertime frost datefrom Burpee .
4. German Wine
The variety ‘ German wine-colored ’ ( R. x coltorum)is a loan-blend that ’s first-class for making , well , wine ! cognoscente of rhubarb wine-colored say it resemble a nice rosé wine , so vinos take bank note .
pass just two feet high and spreading two to three feet broad at due date , this cultivar is a little low than its siblings , make it a upright option for container growing , or in smaller spaces . The unique pinkie - fleeceable stipple stalks are quick for harvest home from tardy spring to early summer .
This variety is also one of the sweetest around . I can just imagine moisten a sauce made from its stalk all over my vanilla methamphetamine cream , or even making pieplant swirl icing cream , as in this recipefrom our sis internet site , Foodal . Delicious !
In Zones 3 - 8 , plant ‘ German Wine ’ from a root ball or crown division as shortly as the earth warming in the spring and revel your first harvest time in a yr .
5. Glaskin’s Perpetual
This good - natured kind grows mirthfully in Zones 3 - 9 , though it prefers cool summertime if possible . And it ’s a variety that you’re able to glean a fiddling rather than some of the others .
Here ’s how : start the seeds indoors at the end of springtime or in early summertime . Let them grow all the mode until the ground thaw the next fountain . Or , if the ground does n’t get that cold where you live , simply transplant them outside about four weeks before the average last rime day of the month .
You ’ll know the red - and - light-green stalks are ready for harvest when they make 12 - 14 inch in length . Cut a few outer chaff with a knife at the base of the plant , and savour !
‘ Glaskin ’s Perpetual ’
But verify to only take a few stalks during the first harvest time – leave most behind for the plant , which only grow to two feet grandiloquent and wide at due date .
The following year , you ’ll have so many still hunt to harvest that you wo n’t know how to use them all . Thanks to its small stature , this smorgasbord would be my go - to for container horticulture .
And here ’s the really slap-up thing : this form can be reap all the way from former spring and into later nightfall , hence its name . Where other varieties turn too acid as the summertime wears on , ‘ Glaskin ’s Perpetual ’ has less oxalic window pane than its siblings making it stay sweeter longer .
Find pack of 500 or 1,000 seeds fromSeedville via Amazon .
6. Hardy Tarty
passing slow to bolt of lightning , heirloom salmagundi Hardy Tarty ( also know as ‘ Colorado Red ’ ) produces reddish stalks that are as deliciously turned as the name advise .
And it ’s another cultivar that can tolerate quick temperatures despite its classified Zones of 3 - 8 , have it an excellent choice for southerly and northerly garden likewise . Since it ’s already so lemony and pieplant gets tarter the afterwards the season debase , you may harvest this variety from late spring through the entire summertime .
This cultivar grows two to three feet tall and wide at maturity , and bed a gay spot in the garden .
7. Holstein’s Bloodred
For what I sense are obvious reasonableness , this inheritance miscellanea make me sense like eating a slab of juicy red moo-cow meat . And I ’m vegetarian !
‘ Holstein ’s Bloodred ’ stalks are red-faced as blood , through and through . And it ’s a champion grower , move over five to ten pound of chaff from mature , plant plants .
Also , the plant can produce up to four groundwork improbable and five ft wide . That ’s a deal of ‘ Holstein ’s Bloodred . ’ You could pretty much arrange up a wayside stand and sell it to Proto-Indo European - thirsty folks in your arena . The blue red stalks would draw crowds .
People who do n’t know much more about rhubarb than that it ’s first-class in PIE are apt to think of its stalks as red . There ’s a misconception that fleeceable stalking mean a plant is unripe , which is n’t true . It all depends on the variety .
But this variety has that classical pieplant looking that can work in your party favor as a roadside fruit and vegetable seller . ( You ’re welcome for the musical theme , by the direction . Wink , jiffy . )
Grow in Zones 3 - 8 and provide mountain of sunshine . Enjoy your ruby - red crop from April to June .
8. KangaRhu
For a brilliant crimson stalk that keeps its signature red color even once it ’s cooked , stress the adorably named ‘ KangaRhu ’ . An splendid choice for midwest or even southern gardener , ‘ KangaRhu ’ is hardy in Zones 4 - 8 but can take some heat , too .
It was actually developed from Australian rhubarb seeds to farm a cultivar that could defy blistering temperatures !
Stalks are as tart as they are crimson , so this cultivar is ideal for those who love mouth - puckering treats . The plant grow up to three feet tall and encompassing at maturity . develop in part shade or full sun for a harvest you may enjoy from late spring to former fall .
9. Prince Albert
diagnose after Queen Victoria ’s married man , the heirloom miscellanea ‘ Prince Albert ’ has been around for over a hundred years . With ruby - greenish stalks that sour pink wine - pink when make , ‘ Prince Albert ’ makes a gorgeous Proto-Indo European pick or jam .
shuck are larger and blue than other variety , with a sodding portmanteau of tartness and sweetness . Some even say ‘ Prince Albert ’ has the best flavor of all the diverseness , but it bet on who you ask .
Ideal for forcing indoors or growing outside in Zones 3 - 8 , reap this variety in other April to former May for the best flavor . The plant grows anywhere from three to four groundwork tall and wide .
10. Riverside Giant
An almost exclusively green - stalk culviar , ‘ Riverside Giant ’ is one of the cold - unfearing varieties usable . It can hold up temperature as low as -40 ° F , make it stout in Zones 3 ( or even 2b in a cold soma ) to 7 .
‘ riverbank Giant ’ grows magniloquent and spread wide than most other varieties – up to five feet tall and four feet wide – but it ’s also one of the slowest to develop and you ’ll have to wait three years before your first harvest .
That ’s why this variety is ideal for those with patience and a demand for an eatable hedging . ‘ Riverside Giant ’ would look nice next to your front doorsill , and then you could harvest it from April to June for tangy pies .
This variety is not to be confused by the “ giant rhubarb ” plant , Gunnera manicata , which is a unlike species , not have-to doe with to rhubarb at all , except in its vulgar name .
11. Sunrise
Ideal for those who love to glean pieplant to salt away for later use , ‘ aurora ’ freezes and cans exceptionally well .
This is due to its extra - stout , thick pink stalk , which is n’t prostrate to turning slushy and thoroughgoing even after model in the freezer for three months . Perfect for anyone who lust a rhubarb pie in the oceanic abyss of winter and does n’t have any novel stalks on helping hand !
The plant matures to three fundament tall and wide and raise in Zones 3 - 8 for an April to June harvesting .
12. Timperley Early
Do you populate in Zone 8 or above ? cross ‘ Timperley other ’ is the perfect cultivar for you because it ’s one of the easiest to draw indoors , and one of the very first to mature . you’re able to harvest ‘ Timperley early on ’ as early as February or March if you drive it indoors , or from April to June if you farm it alfresco .
Growing up to two understructure wide and three human foot marvelous , this cultivar ’s shuck are pinkish and pretty , with a deliciously sweet - tart savor .
Some even call it the best - tasting rhubarb variety of all , and it would dead shine as the star of a rhubarb coffee crumble cake , like this onefrom our sister site , Foodal .
13. Victoria
‘ Victoria ’ is one of the most popular rhubarb varieties in the domain and it is still the most widely available variety today . Developed in 1837 at the head start of Queen Victoria ’s reign , this variety pioneered the use of rhubarb in British and American culinary art .
With fertile red - and - green stems and a sweet , light tart flavour , you may practice ‘ Victoria ’ in a slew of desserts , savory saucer , sauces , jams , and even perforate .
This heirloom sort grows well in high-pitched and low altitudes alike , and it ’s exceptionally easy to jump from seed . So much so that it ’s the kind I fuck to maturate indoors during the winter for a summer transplant to the garden .
But there ’s something you require to eff about growing any rhubarb plant salmagundi from seed : the seed pod does not necessarily keep the machine characteristic of its parent plant . It will be the same cultivar , but it may not have the same cherry-red - cherry stalk , theme heaviness , or even size of Mama Rhubarb .
‘ Victoria ’
So if you love certain characteristics of Victoria , develop it from a root nut or partition , or buy it in summit var. , like this Seth of six pocket-size ‘ Victoria ’ plantsfrom Burpee .
originate from seed , ‘ Victoria ’ takes one to two years to mature and reaches mature property of three feet improbable and across-the-board .
If you grow it from a ascendent bollock , division , or jacket , you may expect to reap in about a year .
‘ Victoria ’ semen useable from Eden Brothers
‘ Victoria ’ needs full Lord’s Day and nerveless atmospheric condition to thrive , but you’re able to uprise it indoors or as an yearly in warmer climates .
regain seed packets or one apothecaries' ounce , 1/4 pound , or one - Lebanese pound bagsat Eden Brothers .
A Tart Delight for Every Tongue
Trust me : if you have n’t tried cook your own garden - grown rhubarb before , you ’re missing out . adult time .
I love eating a gash of rhubarb pie at my favourite Proto-Indo European restaurant up here in Alaska while looking out of the windowpane at the very mend of big , curly leaves and red - green stalks from whence it occur .
If you ’ve never visit Alaska and you want to smack something we Yank enjoy in the summer , grow your own Proto-Indo European industrial plant and whip up a peculiar creative activity come bounce , summertime , or even fall , reckon on your prefer variety .
And do n’t forget to determine out these articles on additional Proto-Indo European - readyvegetables to growin your garden :
photo by Laura Melchor , Meghan Yager , and Nikki Cervone © Ask the Experts , LLC . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.See our TOSfor more details . merchandise photo via Burpee , Eden Brothers , Nature Hills Nursery , Outsidepride , and hoarded wealth by Lee . Uncredited photos : Shutterstock . With extra writing and editing by Clare Groom and Allison Sidhu .
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Laura Ojeda Melchor
