Member-only story
The Plant That Keeps on Giving
Greater love hath no woman than she lay down her life for a rhubarb crown!
I grew up with rhubarb which, as a vegetable, we ate as a fruit.
To this day, it’s still one of my favourite pie fillers, which is why I bought a crown three years ago … and planted it, my mouth salivating at the myriad of culinary experiences I would expose myself to … soon!
My home would be redolent with the scent of scrumptious pies, and crumbles. There would be no end to my creativity.
I’d be the envy of my neighbourhood.
Just thinking about all I could create took me back to my childhood in Scotland.
I remember a shady corner of our back garden where rhubarb, largely neglected, grew in thick red stalks, surviving snow and frost, heavy rain and biting winds.
Sometimes, in the warmer months (were there warmer months?) we kids would sneak some sugar in a home-made poke (Scottish word for packet), grab a few rhubarb stalks, and find a quiet spot to scarf them down.
That was heaven … for us, but not such heaven for our teeth.
So with such memories, how could I resist when my favourite online seed store was advertising rhubarb crowns for sale?
