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Author Topic: Gunnera Maniculata  (Read 3625 times)

Offline Cindi

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Gunnera Maniculata
« on: May 31, 2007, 10:28:19 am »
This is my Gunnera tree.  It grows on the north side of the pool pump house.  Notice the red flower in the centre of the group of leaves.  It is now turned green.  This plant will be larger than the building behind it by the end of summer, it grows amazing fast.  It has horrible spines all up down the stalks and on the underside of the leaves, but it is an amazing plant, loves moisture.  Have a wonderful day, love the life you're livin'.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline reinbeau

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Re: Gunnera Maniculata
« Reply #1 on: May 31, 2007, 07:24:54 pm »
Ah, Cindi, I envy your climate!  I'd love to be able to grow gunnera.  The biggest leafed plants we can grow are Rogersia, I think.

Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: Gunnera Maniculata
« Reply #2 on: June 01, 2007, 02:41:58 am »
It looks an awful lot like what we used to call devils thistle when I was a kid.  Never liked them.
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Offline Cindi

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Re: Gunnera Maniculata
« Reply #3 on: June 01, 2007, 10:37:49 am »
It looks an awful lot like what we used to call devils thistle when I was a kid.  Never liked them.

Brian, now that is an interesting comment.  When we were kids we lived in a very bushy locale.  Back in those days life was very rural all over the Vancouver Lower Mainland.  Of course there was the city, but where I lived which was in west Burnaby, people still had horses and the like.  It was very undeveloped.  Now that area is nothing but malls, highrise apartments, and the like.

We used to play in the bush all day long.  And we had a horrible little shrubby thing that grew in those dark, dank forests.  It was called "Devil's Club".  That is what we knew it by.  It does look very similar to the Gunnera, but much smaller.  It had the horrible thorny stalks and leaves.  I bet these plants are cousins.  Intersting that you referred to it as "Devil's Thistle".  Must be the same.

I have only see this Devil's Club rarely nowadays.  I saw it a few years ago when I was trunching through the trails in a nearby place called UBC Research forest. I easily recognized it from my childhood days, but it does not grow freely around where I live.  Maybe up in the bushes, but I have not seen it.

Ann, the Gunnera is a marvelous plant.  I am going to take pictures of it every week or so to show how quickly it grows.  Today when I looked outside, the flower stalk is almost not even visible.  That plant has grown immensely, and will continue on.

My banana grove is starting to take off like wildfire now (basjoo is actually the cultivar of this banana tree grove).  It is beautiful once the new shoots have grown up and the mother stalks are in full leaf.  Did you ever see the picture I put on the forum of my banana grove, taken last summer?  I don't know if pictures are still available when people look at older posts, but you should have a look at it, if you can access my posts.  It is a beautiful sight for the eyes.  I love my banana grove, it is surrounded by hosta plants that, as well all know grow like wildfire too.

Yes, I am always grateful that I live in a rainforest, they call it.  I love the rain and thank life every day when I go outside and see what a beautiful area I live in.  We do not have any drought, more than enough rain.  Now and then there will be a year where there is worries of not enough water, but we always get through it.

There is worries now of some parts of our local flooding.  We live on high ground so we are safe.  I am grateful for that too.  But not too far from my home, within 10 minutes drive, on the lower parts, near the Fraser River, there is serious concern.  The snow pack on the mountains is the highest it has been in years and the mighty Fraser will carry the brunt of all the water that will flow.  I hope this does not happen.  But the communites have been preparing for about a month now with stocking sandbags.  I will go and help if any of the communities need volunteers to do work.  That is my job.  Being in a safe place, I am fortunate and must help the others that my not be so.

Have a wonderful day, enjoy the life your livin'.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

 

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