Rhubarb, rhubarb: why Victoria still reigns supreme

Why is a variety of rhubarb dating back to 1837 so popular?

PLANTS, AS most gardeners know from experience, are pieces of living history, stubborn survivors of previous ages, and of other gardens and gardeners long gone and often, but not always, forgotten.

Raised as seed or passed on by subsequent generations of gardeners as cuttings or divisions, they can travel very far from where the mother plant first began. But if anything at all endures as a clue to their origins, it is usually in their names.

In the OPW’s restored Victorian walled garden, gardeners Brian Quinn and Meeda Downey have been growing a variety of rhubarb commonly known as Victoria, which they planted back in 2008 as part of the first phase of the garden’s restoration. This variety of rhubarb, the oldest still in general cultivation, was first introduced in 1837 by the English nurseryman, Joseph Myatt, and named in honour of Queen Victoria’s accession to the throne.

In his recent book, Forgotten Fruits, author Christopher Stocks calls Myatt "the godfather of modern rhubarb", and credits him with popularising the plant (it was previously grown mainly for medicinal purposes). He also explains how Myatt's cause was helped by the fact that there was a significant reduction in sugar taxes in Britain in the mid-19th century, which made the necessary sweetening of cooked rhubarb a far more affordable option.

After the success of Rhubarb Victoria, Myatt then went on to introduce two other popular rhubarb cultivars, Prince Albert in 1840 and Linnaeus in 1842, the latter named after Carl Linnaeus, the father of plant taxonomy and the man who first introduced rhubarb to Sweden.

But of the three, it’s Victoria that’s best known and most widely available to modern gardeners. Stocks calls it “a giant amongst rhubarbs, not only in size but also in productivity”, adding that “Victoria’s advantage is its versatility: its juicy green stems are equally good for forcing, cooking, freezing and making jam or rhubarb wine”.

It seems very likely that this very same rhubarb variety would have been grown when the OPW’s Victorian walled garden was being cultivated back in the mid-19th century, although then it was popularly known as Myatt’s Victoria. But over time, it became simply Victoria and so the man who brought rhubarb to our tables became just another footnote in horticultural history.

In the walled garden, the two-year-old rhubarb Victoria plants are now fine, sturdy specimens, whose brick-red shoots and crumpled new leaves have already pushed their way through the soil this spring. Virtually pest-free and extremely low maintenance (although very old plants can succumb to viruses), rhubarb is also highly decorative in the garden. But fully grown, the large, showy leaves can reach an average height and spread of 1-1.2 metres so the plants do need to be given space.

“We do nothing to them, really, other than to keep them weed-free, pull off developing flower-heads and give a deep mulch of farmyard manure every autumn,” says Meeda, adding that rhubarb is a very greedy feeder that needs a rich, fertile and moisture-retentive soil.

“But once it’s established itself in a nice sunny spot in the garden, it doesn’t ask for very much.” So very successfully has it established itself that the OPW gardeners have now decided to grow another old and popular variety known as Red Champagne, which they’re planting in a row, roughly a metre apart, and into deeply manured and weed-free ground.

Rhubarb Red Champagne is a very close relative of Hawkes’ Champagne, another long-cultivated variety first introduced in the 1850s, probably by a London market gardener called Edward Hawkes.

The sweetest of all the rhubarbs, its popularity (just like its name) has endured, despite more recent introductions. Which makes one feel a little for poor Joseph Myatt – for why should Hawkes be so commemorated and not the “godfather of modern rhubarb”?

Rhubarb Victoria and Red Champagne are both available from Mr Middleton’s, mrmiddleton.com, while the traditional terracotta rhubarb forcers in the walled garden (use sparingly, as forcing will weaken the plant) are available from Kiltrea Bridge Pottery in Co Wexford (kiltreapottery.com, 053-9235107). And for seeds of Victoria and a taste of the other kinds of fruit and vegetable varieties once cultivated in Victorian gardens, check out the wonderful website of heritage seedsman and bulb merchant, Thomas Etty Esq, recently recommended by organic gardener, teacher and upcoming author Klaus Laitenberger, at thomasetty.co.uk.

Elsewhere in the walled garden, Brian and Meeda have just finished sowing carrot seed, which they’re growing in situ in three large, sunny and adjacent beds (four rows to a bed). This year, they’re experimenting with three different varieties, the early Trevor (no, not a homage to the recently retired junior minister), the second early/maincrop and curiously-named Ulyses (sic) and lastly, the maincrop/late Artemis, all of which they’ve sourced from Moles Seeds.

But before sowing, the gardeners took pains to carefully prepare the seed beds, which they made sure were absolutely weed-free and raked to a very fine tilth (no stones, no lumps of soil, no plant debris). “Remember also that carrots don’t like freshly-manured soil,” warns Meeda.

The OPW gardeners marked out the shallow (2cm deep) planting lines with a stick and some taut string, keeping about 20cm between rows. After sowing, they gently covered the seed but didn’t water. “There’s heavy rain on the way, so we didn’t bother,” explains Brian. Sowing this early, they hope to avoid the dreaded carrot fly (early sowings in the walled garden last year escaped, whereas the later-sown crops succumbed).

Because of the threat of white onion rot in the garden, Brian and Meeda can’t practise companion planting. But other urban farmers have found that one sometimes successful way to deter the carrot fly and (literally) put it off the scent is to plant alternating rows of onions and carrots.

Instead, Brian and Meeda are ordering the barrier netting, Bionet, from organic suppliers, Fruithill Farm (fruithillfarm.com), which they’ll use to enclose the developing plants soon after they emerge. “It lets in light and water but that’s it,” says Brian, who doesn’t have a high opinion of the supposedly fly-resistant varieties on offer from various seed companies. “I don’t think it’s so much about what variety you sow as when you sow it,” he says. “Last year, a late sowing of Flyfree was just as badly hit by carrot fly as the others. We hope the Bionet will make a big difference as we’ll be able to completely cover the crop this time, and not just the sides. But as always, we’ll just have to wait and see.”

• The OPW's Victorian walled kitchen garden is in the grounds of the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre, beside the Phoenix Park Café and Ashtown Castle. The gardens are open daily from 10am to 4.30pm

• Next week Urban Farmer in Property will cover planting potatoes

• Fionnuala Fallon is a garden designer and writer