Gunnera manicata – guess the day and time when the GardenAdvice Gunnera reaches 60 cm and win yourself some free plants for your garden.
You can always tell when springs under way with the first signs of growth in an established Gunnera manicata. Today (12 April 2010 ) in the GardenAdvice.co.uk garden we have just seen the first signs of life this spring as the crown buds start to bust into life.
An established Gunnera manicata can grow amazingly quickly in the spring as the shoots appear from the crown, this is one reason why they need to grow in a moist soil full or organic matter to supply a steady supply of water to fuel such a high rate of growth.
On a warm spring day you can watch the amazing growth of a Gunnera over just a few hours as the leaves unfold and the stems extend.
Commonly thought of as ‘giant rhubarb’. A Gunnera needs a lot of space because it is difficult to restrict their size, the leaves can grow up to 2 metres wide. They look best as specimen plants in a damp bog garden, or beside a large pond where the reflections reveal the prickly undersides of the leaves.
We have launched a small competition for you to guess when our Gunnera reaches 60 cm from the top of the crown to the highest leaf tip. The nearest guess will receive £250 worth of plants for your garden. Just email us with your estimated guess to gunnera@gardenadvice.co.uk with the day and time in hours and minutes when you think our Gunnera will reach 60 cm.
Track the size of our Gunnera on our twitter service twice a day in the morning and early evening
http://twitter.com/MyGardenTeam
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