We grew a triffid!
At 12ft tall (and counting) the pot plant that’s taken over a garden
IT may not track you down and lash you in the face with its deadly stinger. But this monster of a plant has grown to triffidlike proportions.
At 12ft tall and counting, the giant Gunnera manicata has taken over Jenny and Anthony Phillips’s garden.
But far from being an unwelcome intruder, the colossal plant provides a striking centrepiece for the couple’s lawn – not to mention the perfect spot for a tea break.
The Gunnera, which is native to South America, is also known as giant rhubarb. However, as any gardener will tell you, attempting to eat the stems would prove a painful experience.
It is covered in thousands of tiny spikes both along its stems and underneath the broad green leaves.
During summer months the inedible plant – which dies off and is cut back each autumn – takes over the Phillips’ three-acre garden beside Uttoxeter racecourse in Staffordshire.
The couple attribute their plant’s extreme height – specimens usually grow to between 5ft and 8ft tall – to the ‘bog bed’, a pond-sized, lined hole which they dug for it in the middle of the lawn.
Mr Phillips, a 71-year-old retired accountant, said: ‘It looks uncannily like rhubarb but it most definitely isn’t edible.’ The couple, who have two children and two grandchildren, were given the plant as a housewarming gift 25 years ago.
Mr Phillips recalled: ‘At the time, it was in a pot. The plant grew wider and wider each year as the roots expanded, but it has got to this height roughly every summer since we planted it in the garden.’
Mrs Phillips, 70, said: ‘The leaves are as tough as old boots and offer great protection if there’s a shower while I’m out gardening, or to enjoy a quick cup of tea in the shade during sunny weather.
‘It gets as tall as this each year because it thrives in boggy soil and I keep it very wet. But the rainy July and then a brief heatwave have really helped it flourish.
‘It’s pretty impressive. Every year it amazes us with its size.’
Her husband added: ‘What is strange about the plant is the way it dies away in the autumn.
‘We cut off the leaves and use them to cover the roots. Then every April the stumps start growing again. Within eight or nine weeks it is back to this size.’
Mr Phillips added that the plant was good for another four or five weeks’ growth.