Rhubarb in the South - is this even possible?

I planted some last year and it grew fine for a bit before turning yellow and dying on me. So, I tried again this spring and this plant seemed to be doing well until a tree fell on it and crushed it! That may be God's way of telling me to quit but I'm still determined to grow it. I put this year's plant in a area that gets lots of sun in the spring but is lightly shaded during the summer. It's in a raised bed that I amended with lots of compost. I'm going to leave that spot alone and see if anything comes up next year but since I had to place an order for some replacement strawberries, I decided to add a rhubarb plant on to my order. Is there anyway I can grow this in Knoxville, TN? It doesn't help that we've had such hot, dry weather this year and last. :-(

Thank you!

PS - I've already checked out http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/ but I wanted to see if any of you had successfully grown it in the south.

Have you tried growing it in the fall or winter? Since it does well in the North you may have better luck when temps are a little cooler. Since it is a perennial it should do fine in the winter but need protection in the summer. Sounds like you were doing the right thing already. Maybe planting in the fall would help it get established to survive the summer heat.

I have it growing in my garden. It looked like it died the first year, and now it's big and happy. We are hot and dry, but I would think the humidity would be ok.