The Rhubarb Compendium - Garden Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a cool season, perennial plant that is very winter hardy and resistant to drought. Its crop is produced from crowns consisting of fleshy rhizomes and buds. Following a season of growth the rhubarb crown becomes dormant and temperatures below 40 Â°F / 5 Â°C are required to stimulate bud break and subsequent growth. The first shoots to appear in the spring are edible petioles and leaves. These emerge sequentially as long as temperatures remain cool (below 90 Â°F / 32 Â°C). As temperatures increase, top growth is suppressed, even appearing dormant in periods of extreme heat. With declining temperatures in later summer, foliage growth resumes.

Climate and Growing Region
Rhubarb is a cool season, perennial crop. It requires temperatures below 40 Â°F / 5 Â°C to break dormancy and to stimulate spring growth and summer temperatures averaging less than 75 Â°F / 24 Â°C for vigorous vegetative growth. The Northern U.S. and Canada are well suited for rhubarb production. In the United states it grows best in the northern states from Maine south to Illinois and west to Washington state. Once planted, rhubarb plantings remain productive for 8 to 15 years.

The Rhubarb Compendium, Copyright 1996-2010, Dan Eisenreich