How to grow desirable ruby red rhubarb in your Sydney suburb

There’s a painting by early 20th century Norwegian artist Nikolai Astrup of his wife, Engel, picking rhubarb. She’s wearing a pretty spring dress of blue and white and the bend of her back is echoed in the line of the snow-licked mountains in the distance.

Cherry trees are in blossom and the grass is vividly green as she bends over the giant, undulating leaves and with one hand twists the long red stem at its base, demonstrating perfect rhubarb harvesting technique.

The big leaves seem to embody all of spring’s vegetative power. After months and months of deep snow, rhubarb’s vivid liveliness must have been pure joy to the Astrups, who lived on the shadowed side of a steep hill above Norway’s largest lake, and only felt the direct rays of the sun from March until September.

No one has much to say about whether Engel, Nicolai and their eight kids had stewed rhubarb on their porridge in the mornings, but they were famous for their rhubarb wine.

No doubt that’s what Astrup was planning when he put in his first nursery order, which included 100 rhubarb crowns, of 10 different varieties. His favourites included ‘Victoria’, which is what my grandmother grew in her rhubarb patch. It is still available and does well in most Australian climates.

Though ‘Victoria’ is tasty, its stems shade to green at the top. Sydney’s gardeners now prefer the deep ruby-red varieties, especially those that don’t go dormant in our mild winters, such as ‘Sydney Crimson’ and container-friendly ‘Ever Red’.

Now is the time to order rhubarb crowns from online suppliers, such as Green Harvest, Diggers and Tesselaar.

To grow rhubarb, you need an open sunny or lightly shaded position, ideally not blasted by hot afternoon sun in midsummer; an east-facing bed is ideal. Allow at least half a metre for each plant, planting a crown for each rhubarb fan in the household. If a pot is your only option, make sure it’s a big one.