gunnera, good idea or not?

fabulous, thank you very much

 

You are very welcome al. That's the best part about this site......... sharing!!

 

I was thinking of doing this. I've always wanted a gunnera but it seems the only place now to put it would be in my other half's part of the garden. Which has large borders and is in full shade though most of the year. We were hoping of putting a water butt up there and using the overflow to keep the gunnera topped up. This won't be a little trickle either. I must have filled up 7 buckets worth with the overspill so far, as all the butts are connected to the run off of the house, which is a huge amount of water.

Also I have some damp proof membrane could I use that instead of pond liner? I'm trying to scrimp on costs, it's just surplus to requirements now and would like to put it to some kind of use.

 

Dont give up on the gunnera have a look at the pics in my album there is one in my garden its now 5 years old and still a manageble size , mine grows beside my little pond but its not in damp ground (unless the liners leaking !!!)may be this keeps it smaller, its a bit like rhubarb and you can always divide it to reduce its size I had much more of a problem with rheum

 

This was taken in the spring so it is larger then this a bit later it gets to about three foot six

 

Like Bilbo suggest , rehum palmatum is a nice alternative but , as it start growing early , my one has been drilled by the hail , plus snails seams to love them.

 

if it large leaves you are looking for :

red banana , it`s a super grower.

t-rex as julie suggest.

no need introductions

Thai calocasia.

jurassic hosta. (will produce jurassic snail )

and if you go for a Gunnera , you can walk in town with one of this leaves and look really cool ; )

 

that red banana are t-rex are fabulous!!!!!!

got to get those in my garden.

this is the first time in a garden i've thought of tropical planting. in my previous houses, always gone for traditional brit planting, borders on all sides with shrubbery, climbers and summer bedding.

so thanks again for all the suggestions

 

Beautie have a price......the red banana need to be digged out every winter and stored .....I `ve got 3 of them bough as seedling ......in one season they reached 6 feet ......brilliant plant ,
the t-rex will take 3/4 years to reach an impressive size , fully hardy but die down in winter .

 

Jurassic snail.............. !!!

 

I'd vote for Gunnera. I had one by the pond in our last garden and although dramatic, it didn't dominate. Sadly we had to move in such a hurry that I left it behind. Luckily, I'd given a piece to a local Buddhist retreat centre.

As it was planted next to the reed bed treatment pond it did grow big. I chopped off a chunk and have planted an eye in a soggy bit of ground next to our cess pit!

I've recently been given a Tetrapanax, which I've never grown before, but on reading up on it, it appears that it can be invasive so I'm going to put it in a large pot.