First time I saw these I thought they were so ugly. Now a few years later, I love everything about them, including all the hair.
Gunnera chilensis (Gunnera tinctoria)
Funny how your tastes change
Have you seen the plants, pond side in GG Park. Too beautiful for words.
Wish we could grow Gunnera here...its just gets too HOT for them in the summer!!!
In Chile we stood under one during a rainstorm. I am nearly 6' tall and DH is taller...in other words we are not small and that Gunnera leaf was HUGE. Did you know it is related to rhubarb?
Carol
I love giant plants, including this one, but it doesn't like my yard.
Plan to try it again here in KY lol. I have a new spot by the creek in a gully. I hope it will survive growing rhubarb also ornamental form.
Oh Dale, YES!! So many!!
Here is my husband as we are walking through the Arboretum. His strategy is to walk so fast in the hopes his ordeal will soon be over though now the thought occurs to me that perhaps he is trying to lose me. LOL! Not so funny!!!
I have so many shots of his back, always way ahead of me.
Dinosaur food! Have always loved the looks of them.
This message was edited Mar 28, 2006 6:51 PM
I made my Mom pose for comparison LOL.
Sue!! I opened the second one first and thought Mom had been eaten!! LOL I so love those plants!
I was thinking the little shop of horrors,
ely
I'd recognize that Mom anywhere!! LOL. Nice pics, Sue. So do you want one too???
A new leaf. I love the textures involved with this plant.
I wish they liked south Texas, but they don't. I'm so jealous!
http://cgi.ebay.com/Gunnera-Manicata-LIVE-PLANT-Dinosaur-food_W0QQitemZ7755064907QQcategoryZ43540QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I found these on EBay, what is the difference between the two?
After reading this ariticle, I wonder which they really are selling. Doesn't seem to be a lot of difference.
http://www.rnzih.org.nz/pages/Gunnera_tinctoria_and_G_manicata.htm
I sent a note to the seller and asked what the difference was and this is what he wrote me back:
The Manicata grows larger. The leaf growth lays flat as compared to its cousin the chilensis; which has an upright growth form.
I would like to get one from him but he doesn't have to good of a feedback average. But I still may give him a try. If I should I will be sure to post a picture.
Hi Kell,
Your husband is only trying to catch up to my husband, who probably is in the car by now....LOL. I now leave him home.
If anyone really gets one, please let me know for I would like to try one, if they are cheap enough. Being in 10b, I don't think I have a prayer with it, but I love things with BIG leaves.
Thanks....
Hap
Sure I want one, along with an additional acre for all the other plants I want!
BTW, how do you get all your images with black background? Great shots with that new camera!
How fast do they grow? Since we can't grow them in the summer I am wondering how they would do as winter annuals in the southeast? Anyone ever tried planting one inthe fall?
ardesia,
I use sunset nat'l garden book for my reference. They have the US divided up into 45 zones. I think you are in zone 31 (lower elevation SC) and sunset says you can go it, but would be a challenge. If you are off shore and the ocean keeps you temps up in summer it wouldn't do well.
Gunnera is from the west coast of S.America (Chile) it is very cool there all the time, but, night time temps are the real factor. If you live in a low area, like a river valley where cool air pools in summer you might have success. I once lived on the lower Colorado River east of Austin, TX and my night time temps were always in the low 60's after the sun went down in summer. If I went into town, only about 60' higher, the night temps were in the mid 70's. I had wild columbine growing in my front lawn that was not listed in any book of texas wildflowers. It was small about 3" tall in many shades of blue. Tried it in friends yards and it never came up.
I think we are way too hot here because our nighttime temps rarely go below 70 in the summer. Couple that with really high humidity and it just won't work here.
Heck, my lowest temp this winter was 37. Now I have some confused plants because they never went into dormancy this year.
Here we stay in the 50s at night all summer, San Franscico is even a bit cooler than where I am. They love it.
Oh Sue, we need to move out to the country but we better do it soon before I get too old to move my body around.
I put my camera on macro and if the time is just before sunset or I am in deep shade, I get a totally black background with my subject hilighted. And I can cheat too if it is not totally black in that I blacken it myself. I love the effect. Gunnera just love to have their picture taken. I love the textures.
Here is the above pic before I played with it.
Id say the best place to grow these in the SE would be in the upper Piedmont regions or lower mountains (In a very warm microclimate.) It doesnt get nearly as hot in the summer, compared with the coastal or lower South, and winters (which can be cold) are still not as brutal as the NE or Midwest. Near a stream, in a good wet area, Im sure these would thrive. Petasites might be the best substitute for those of us in warmer areas though.
In southern Chile, where they grow wild, it is actually WET and SOGGY. We spent 2 summers on our boat down there and I wore shorts 1 day in 2 years. The only shoes to wear are boots and Polar Fleece is worn in the summer!!! There are lots of mists and low clouds...and they grow in low valleys where they are well protected from the wind....which blows like mad in the canals. The stalks are peeled and eaten when young!
Michael, I was just thinking about Petasites making a good substitute fro Gunnera here. Hmmmmm, and I know where to get them. Time to melt the plastic!
But, on second thought, do you think they would be really invasive????
I've tried several times to grow the Gunnera with no sucess due to the hot summer temps. I can grow the Petasites in the shade and they do multiply rapidly.
The only bad thing about Petasites is that when August comes they usually die down. The show they put on with their 2-3 ft. leaves in spring and early summer is great though. They can also be very weedy and will take over a bed if the conditions are right.
Another substitute for Gunnera in the SE could be Tetrapanax papyrifera "steroidal giant". These babies get Humongous leaves (mine are usually 4 ft. or more across" and they love hot and humid.
Ive seen Gunnera growing naturally in Costa Rica, although Im not sure what species it was. Not quite as large as the giants in Colombia, Ecuador, So.Brazil and Chile, but they were still quite big.
Now I know they are invasive here. That is the plant they should call "mother of thousands".
LOL
I had a Gunnera manicata bought in 1998 as a reasonable size bare root plant and quite cheap compared to others, £4.20. I planted it at the edge of our beck, stream, call it what you will, after digging out the 20 years of accumulated soil and leaves to the old brick base. It was doing OKish, had grown leaves to about 3.5 feet across, but wasn't getting much taller. 2004 was very dry for 2 months and quite hot in late summer, although the plant was down a bank with it's roots probably going under the bricks it did seem to suffer. They like their roots in boggy soil.
In 2005 it wasn't really growing very well at all but was alive, then they did some works on the water pipes up the road and kept pumping water into the drain and drowned my gunnera. They can stand having their crowns under water for short spells, and I had it high enough not to go under or very rarely, but they kept it flooded for so long that was the end of it.
As sad as it sounds I couldn't see that it was going to get any bigger, but it would have been great as a water side umbrella. It really doesn't fare well if it gets too much frost either. It did flower too, I don't know if it made viable seed but I had thought about trying and that was as far as it went!
I forgot, there is a link to vandusen botanical gardens explaining the difference. I have bought seed from them, they have some unusual plants and is run by volunteers, perhaps I ought to get seed and try again. If you wish to keep this web site put it somewhere safe, as a search for vandusen doesn't find it
http://vandusen.plantexplorers.com/product_info.php/products_id/221
Years ago, I didn't have any thing but annuals, now I have evolved into perennials, a few tropicals and even like cauti!
Is the Gunnera the same as Dinosaur Plant? My sister's neighbor calls hers that and the pics look the same. I would love to try a leaf mold from them.
Very interesting, Carol!! You had such adventures. Janet, so sad yours was drowned.
Here you see them in San Francisco which though it gets no rain from may thru October, does get a wet fog daily.
I went to a nursery here the other day and there was this adorable 1 gallon Gunnera tinctoria, perfectly formed so of course after all of this conversation it had to come home with me.
LOL You caved!!!
You're making me very jealous, Kell......
One day I am going to try one.
Hi Happy!!
Yea, I did Chele and you are partly to blame...... you know you can only look at a cool plant for so long and not need it.
Is yours still alive?
Nah, I never got it...got chicken. Putting in a new garden along the lake and I may try one there. If I REALLY knew it would not grow, I wouldn't try it, there is no sense just killing the babies. But is someone will give me an inch of encouragement, I may try anyway. They just look so neat...
Have a great day.
Hap
Dale-a-gardener,
I live in lone Oak, TX, in east TX and about 60 mi. due east of Dallas. I am in zone 7b. Do you think gunnera will grow in my area? Please help.
hey Hap, I will give you a pound of encouragement. Start growing. LOL
I saw another kind the other day.
Gunnera insignis, Poor Man's Umbrella
Oh, Kell
You are going to lead me astray again....huh?
I've seen seeds for sale...are they fast to grow from seed or is a plant better.....remember, I don't buy green bananas.....
Love ya
Hap