GUNNERA OVER WINTER

Hi, I guess to play it safe it would be a good idea to protect your Gunnera. I usually bend the leaves over the crown when they are dying down as they are easier to "snap" over but the frosts have arrived first. I must get mine done too, they did get frosted last night so I hope the crowns didnt suffer too much damage.

Thanks, i sort of compromised and covered the crown with fleece - just off to check its ok!

Were they OK? The leaves on mine are all frosted now :( but the crowns look alright, I've bent the leaves over this morning so I will leave them like this until the Spring. Dawn

Yes it seems ok, but i dont think we actually got the forecasted frost- unless it cleared away early

That's good then! You were lucky, it was a very hard frost here this morning. Looking forward to seeing some of your photos. Dawn

Ive posted one of the gunnera in its nappy. I have another question, do you plant anything under yours, or know a plant that would be ok in the shade? I thought the gunnera would fill the space but think it needs something else?

Hi There, just taken a look at your photo, the leaves on yours are very healthy, arent they, mine are now black after their frosting :( Regarding your question, no I dont plant anything under mine but then mine is set in a completely different setting to yours - you are all neat and tidy and well lets say mine is in a rural setting. You'll see a photo on my page, called "Me and My Gunnera". Mine is set next to the stream that runs through out garden and it is sort of contained on an island so there's just grass and stinging nettles under it (how embarrassing) but having said that if I grew shade loving plants under it you wouldnt see them as the leaves are so large. I'll have a think about shade loving plants - is your's in moist soil, I guess it must be for it to live. Dawn

Your garden looks great, i'd rather have the rural setting any day!

Hi, I'm back again. Has your Gunnera had any cone like flower heads yet? When I was covering my Gunnera Scabras (smaller variety) today I noticed a flower head, completely different to what the Manicata has - just put the photo on.

It had two cones earlier in the year, theyve died off now. I think its quite a mature plant - i bought it off ebay believe it or not!

Wow, that was a good buy then. I've had my one like yours about 7 years now and it keeps surviving luckily. You can split the rhizome to get more plants, in the Spring - we've done this a few times.

Hello Howee, I uncovered my gunneras yesterday - made me wonder how your's is doing? Dawn