Today I ordered a jumbo Gunnera plug. I have one remaining space to fill in my garden. 1 1/2m squared, south west facing. I will be preparing this space in the next few days. Any hints or tips would be appreciated re prep, watering and over wintering etc... Thanks
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You have to be joking
Gunnera manicata?
Wikipedia describes the leaves as 'typically' 1.5 to 2.0 metres long by 2.0 metres wide, on 2 metre leaf stalks.
I have a large country garden wih a pond seemingly ideal for Gunnera, but rejected it on the basis that it would be out of scale with everything else. You on the other hand.....
Unless it was just the plug that was jumbo and you selected a different variety?
Dig a large hole about 1m across and as deep. Line it with plastic , puncture some holes in. Gunnera like to have wet area for their roots, but not standing in water. Mix the excavated soil with some compost or well rotted manure or other organic matter. Use this mix to plant your gunnera.
Looking after it in winter will depend on where you are in the country. Usually the leaves are used to fold over the crown, and a mulch to protect it.
I see You are in Scotland. It may be best with a plug? Plant to pot it, sink it in the ground in the pot, then lift it to give it protection the first year.
I have two Gunnera neither of which has reached scary proportions. Don't get me wrong they are "statement" plants but neither is much bigger than a square metre. The reason? I suspect it's because they're not planted in the wet! For some reason my predecessor decided to plant them in the less boggy parts of the garden and they seem to like it ok. They die down in Winter and I leave the dead leaves as protection.
I am in the boggy wetlands of Co. Fermanagh so they get A LOT of rain. I imagine if I gave them "ideal" conditions it might be a different story.
Oh 'eck C3! I'd be wary of a Gunnera if it's a small garden. Proportion will be 'wrong' as B'cupdays says.
However, if you've got it already, and if it's only a plug (can you actually GET Gunnera as a plug?
) it will need potted on till it's mature enough to be planted out. Alternatively, keep it confined in your planting bed, using a physical barrier of some kind, so that it doesn't get too huge. Ppauper has also got round the issue of it's gigantic nature!
We have a mature one where I work, it's at about 600 feet altitude, in a north facing area, exposed, and it survives all that nature flings at it up here. It gets no maintenance really at all. It's not enormous, but it may be due to the amount of other planting round it, and also, like pp's, it isn't in boggy ground, and gets tons of rainfall. Combination of the two possibly
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Amazed you can get gunnera as a plug? Where did you order it from C3K?
Ok, ok. So, I bought the plug from eBay. A reputable supplier. I was also surprised it was available as a plug, but for the price[6 quid] I thought worth the risk! As for size, in my climate, I'm not expecting it to reach the huge proportions that you would expect if it had a decent climate and boggy bed. I am however looking for a bit of a statement, like ppauper said, and it has more over hang room than the area I have to dig in. Thanks for all the advice. Let you know when it arrives...
Last edited: 03 July 2016 18:21:29
Fair play C3k - I would have thought it would have been available only as a reasonable sized vegetative cutting, so I was quite surprised.
Hope it works out for you. Think it would still be best to get it potted up and let it get to a reasonable size before putting it in it's final spot, to give it the best chance of doing well
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I am on my 3rd - and last - gunnera. The last two have been frozen to death by surprise -8C frosts in October. They had coped with much colder winters when, with advanced warning, I covered their crowns with old foliage and then buried them under a 3' heap pf garden compost.
This one has been grown on in a pot and re-potted each spring until this year. The idea was that once the pot got too big to move to the greenhouse for winter the gunnera would be better suited to surviving in the pond edges. However, we've decided move so it's still in its pot and will come with us. The trick is to keep it well watered. They go limp if too dry and that's not a good look in a pot.
For a similar look on a smaller scale you could go for the ornamental rhubarb.
Good idea fairygirl, think I may well do that, will think about it.
-8 in October obelixx?! Wow do you live in Iceland?! What size does yours get too?
Last edited: 03 July 2016 19:10:13