Today, I’m going back to cataloging our oldest plants, if only so that I can have all their information in one place rather than bothering my poor friend (who lived here before us) whenever I forget. Possibly some of the oldest plants we have, this rhubarb patch dates back to the 1950s when the farm was first built. It was one of the first things I noticed when we did a tour of the property since the buds were just breaking the ground and looked like bright red dinosaur eggs. It’s still one of my favorite spring sights, and I usually end up taking a picture every year.

Rheum rhabarbarum ‘Victoria’ (raparperi) is another one of those things that just doesn’t exist where I grew up. As a kid, I’d always try to imagine what rhubarb must be like from descriptions in books, but seeing it for the first time was a total surprise. Watching them grow from shiny crimson eggs into plants taller than me was quite eye-opening.

I have since learned that most rhubarb plants do not grow large enough to engulf small buildings every year, but we do have some very large specimens of a vigorous variety planted in a spot where they are very happy. There’s something about the mild and endless light of northern summers that does it for them because another friend mentioned how her grandmother in Alaska also grows gigantic rhubarb. ‘Victoria’ is the most popular variety in Finnish gardens, and I’m guessing this is one of the reasons why.

Although I was excited to harvest and taste rhubarb that first year, I was also nervous because of all the warnings about their poisonous parts. While I’m still cautious about thoroughly removing the leaves, I’ve become much less wary over the years. Especially after one of the neighbor’s kids, during a birthday party, casually asked to pluck a stalk to snack on raw. This has actually become something that I rather enjoy doing as well, though I prefer to dip it in some sugar to temper the sourness.

Aside from eating it straight off the plant or making desserts straightaway, I also harvest several stalks every summer to freeze for using over the rest of the year. Some of our favorite recipes are rhubarb pie, rhubarb cake, and rhubarb vanilla jelly.

Final count:

• Rheum rhabarbarum ‘Victoria’ – 2 large and ancient clumps