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Gunnera Goner
steve howe
Posts: 55
The recent frosts left my Gunnera manicata looking like wet rags, so it was time for the annual cull.
It looked quite good earlier this year...…
But half an hour with the machette…..
The leaves were used in time-honoured fashion to protect the crowns,
and the stems make a simple edging to the semi-wild path, they rot down over the year and form a fibrous edge to the path.
It looked quite good earlier this year...…
But half an hour with the machette…..
The leaves were used in time-honoured fashion to protect the crowns,
and the stems make a simple edging to the semi-wild path, they rot down over the year and form a fibrous edge to the path.
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https://www.hortweek.com/pond-plants-banned-sale-eu/plant-health/article/1440163
G. tintoria has, unfortunately, been sold as G. manicata for such a long time that few actually know which they really have in their garden.
I bought 'manicata' but it's tinctoria.
Beth Chatto describes the difference quite well:
"Differs from G. manicata in having more rounded, deeply lobed leaves, while the leaf stalks are not so tall. A more obvious difference is in the seedhead. In G. tinctoria the primaeval-looking seedhead resembles a densely knobby club, while the fruiting spike of G. manicata has long, narrow side shoots, separated, like fingers."
My Gunnera clump is at least 20 years old and probably older. Cornish gardens would be much the sadder without it...imagine Trebah or Heligan without Gunnera!
I'll try to check mine when the rain eases ... but it has been crisped a bit with the hard frost here yesterday ... so might be a bit tricky.
Bee x
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
I think Rodgersia is a superb waterside plant in all its forms, but I found it to be quite slow to establish and bulk up, and it doesn't like its feet too wet.