I noticed over the weekend that my rhubarb plants were starting to form flower heads, or bolt. Gardeners grow rhubarb for its edible leafstalk (do not eat the leaves because they contain oxalic acid), not the flowers or seeds so, bolting of rhubarb plants is undesirable from the gardener’s perspective. Instinctively, I ran to grab my garden clippers and trim the flowers off, but stopped myself to first grab the camera and snap a few pictures knowing I had an educational moment to share with my loyal readers. So, my timely garden tip to you is trim off any flower heads you see forming on your rhubarb plants so you force it to grow lots of yummy stalks for you, and not a lot of flowers and seeds for Mother Nature.

For more information on why rhubarb plants bolt, see the Purdue Extension garden news article ‘Rhubarb Flowers Blooming or Bolting’.