Ep 252 - Edible vs. Ornamental Rhubarb — Kindness Helps Heal

This week, from the screen porch, Mary Stone shares reflections on edible versus ornamental rhubarb—both unusual, delightful, and deer-resistant additions to the garden. She also shares stories of rhubarb custard pie, overwintered parsley, blooming tea, pole beans, and other decorative vegetables woven among flower gardens.

The episode wraps up with reflections on healing through friendship and community. And the garden lessons found in allowing others to help us through difficult seasons of life. 🌿

Link to the Companion Blog Post: Rhubarb Edible vs. Ornamental— Kindness Helps Heal

🔗 Links to Related Posts and Podcasts: 

Ep 96 - Mending Fences with Forsythia

Ep 101 - Woodcock Dance — Making a Meadow

Ep 247 - Nothing Is Wasted: Leaf Mold, Mulch & Letting Go

Blog Posts:

Mending Fences with Forsythia

Woodcock Dance — Making a Meadow

Leaf Mold vs. Mulch & The Lesson of Letting Go

• Parsley comeback story: Parsley Surprise 

Special Mentions:

• Panache Desai – Call to Calm 
• Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice  
• Songs of Hospice project in Promises That Live Beyond Seasons

Thanks for listening and sharing in the Garden of Life. 🌻

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I'd love to hear your garden and nature stories, as well as your thoughts on topics for future podcast episodes. You can email me at AskMaryStone@gmail.com.   

You can follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook and Instagram #MaryElaineStone.

You can also listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and your favorite podcast app.

Thank you for sharing the Garden of Life,
 Mary Stone
Columnist & Garden Designer

More about the Podcast and Column:

 Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries.

 It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from Mother Nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in, in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.

Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone 
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
Direct Link to Podcast Page

Transcript

Ep 252. Edible vs. Ornamental Rhubarb — Kindness Helps Heal

Sat, May 09, 2026 3:39PM • 12:17

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Garden dilemmas, nature inspirations, comfort zone camp, bereavement camp, rhubarb custard pie, ornamental rhubarb, edible rhubarb, volunteer work, community support, healing process, edible plants, garden care, kindness, life lessons, garden of life.

SPEAKERS

Mary Stone

Mary Stone  00:00

Mary, Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary Stone, and welcome to garden dilemmas, delights and discoveries. It's not only about gardens, it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learn from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So let's jump in, in the spirit of learning from each other, we have lots to talk about. 

Mary Stone  00:25

Hello there. It's a beautiful spring morning here on the screen porch. The sun is shining through the tulip tree leaves just outside of the screen I'll have to grab a photo of that. It's just so beautiful. I want to thank those who reached back after our last chat, a changing garden teaches what belongs. It seems many of us are learning, in one way or another, that gardens and life have a way of revealing what truly belongs, what sustains us, who shows up when we need it most. And this week's story is another reminder of that very same thing, and it starts like this.

Mary Stone  01:04

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. On Sunday, I hosted brunch for friends who will be taking care of Jolee when I attend comfort zone camp. It's the annual loss by suicide camp, in cooperation with the little Hope Foundation, what an honor to serve as the big buddy for a special young lady for the third time last year, the transformation from the year prior was so heartwarming. Watching a young person move from withdrawn, perhaps in guarded grief, to opening and sharing her story with others her own age is something that stays with you. Like a sunflower opening its petals one by one, as if God winks. It's awe inspiring, and the gift to be able to support her again, I'm just so grateful for it. 

Mary Stone  01:50

I've been a volunteer at the bereavement camp for kids and young adults for 11 years, but this is the first time I'm attending without a life partner at home to back me up with my canine kids care. Leaving Jolie in the care of others brings a touch of anxiety, but how fortunate I am to have Don and Susan to help. She will be in loving hands. 

Mary Stone  02:12

You may recall a previous story about Susan and Don, who became friends as they got to know them while walking Jolie in Episode 96 mending fences with Forsythia, we chatted during brunch that now they have new neighbors who are warm and kind, and how different the energy feels when people wave hello instead of looking the other way. Gardens. Notice those things too. I think they seem to breathe easier when people around them do. Don't you think?

Mary Stone  02:40

 Susan is an avid gardener, and our brunch chat led to a plant chat, as you would expect. She mentioned that her rhubarb is ready to harvest, and she plans to make a rhubarb custard pie. Her plant sits just beyond her front walk away, making a statement with its large, husky leaves and red and green stems. I mentioned my ornamental rhubarb, recalling a story about the difference between ornamental and edible rhubarb that stemmed from an audience question at a Spring Fest Garden Show talk years ago. It was a talk about unusual, deer resistant plants. Marty Carson and I touted the beauty of ornamental rhubarb one of the audience members stumped us when he asked for the botanical name, good question. Rheum Palmatum, commonly known as Chinese rhubarb, and perhaps ornamental rhubarb, is not edible. Rheum rhubarbarum is considered the edible kind, commonly called Wild rhubarb in the United States, and garden rhubarb elsewhere- proof of how confusing common names can be.

Mary Stone  03:49

Edible rhubarb leaf stalks are edible, but the leaf blades contain oxalic acid, toxic to both deer and humans, triggering, in Mary words, an overdose of the xlax effect. It's attractive in the garden, but it's the ornamental kind that makes a dramatic, almost prehistoric looking focal point. One of the most colorful is rheum Palmatum, the variation tanguticum, growing nearly six feet high and three feet wide, with leaves that unfurl bronzy-red then turn green on top and burgundy underneath. It literally is a showstopper. It blooms with spikes of reddish pink flowers in the summer, with foliage turning red again in the fall. Ace of hearts is a popular smaller variety growing about three feet tall and wide. Like the edible kind, ornamental rhubarb is perennial, returning each year. 

Mary Stone  04:43

Rhubarb is generally purchased as crowns or divisions and planted in early spring. It thrives in hummus, rich soil, in partial shade to full sun, with roots kept cool under mulch. Ornamental rhubarb is  harmful if eaten, and that goes for you too, deer. But. Though some seem to ignore the warning, perhaps they're browsing for medicinal purposes.

Mary Stone  05:06

The day after brunch, I asked if I could stop by to visit Susan and take a photo of her rhubarb plant. The plant was still beautiful after cutting stems for pie. She harvests from it all season long. If there's more than she can use, she washes the stems, cuts them up and freezes them. When I was there, I noticed nearby there was a parsley plant that came back to life. Likely, the snow cover over winter helped that happen. It's very unusual, though, when they're in the ground, I've had parsley and pots come back when stored along the foundation. Though they aren't always very tasty, they tend to become bitter as they go into flower. Susan said she'll keep harvesting the parsley so that it won't go into flower. 

Mary Stone  05:49

There are so many edible plants that are beautiful in the garden, including eggplants, which Susan agrees can be hard to coax into fruit. I adore tomatoes intermingled amongst perennials such as echinacea with parsley as an edging plant and nasturtiums tumbling with cheerful blooms that are both edible and ornamental. Susan and Don grow whole beans on strings to climb from their front foundation garden to the roof of their front porch offering shade and green beans. How clever and attractive. 

Mary Stone  06:23

As I prepare to head off to camp trusting Jolie in the care of kind friends, I'm reminded that we don't have to do everything alone, just as in the garden, where a mix of plants support and complement one another, our lives are sustained by those willing to show up, lend a hand and nurture what matters.  Garden dilemmas? Ask MaryStone.com. There's a sequel to the story of the rhubarb pie. Soon after my visit, Sue sent a photo of her rhubarb custard pie. Picture perfect, complete with a crisscross top crust. She invited me and my neighbor, Monica, who also works from home, to take a lunch break yesterday for pie and tea. It was a rainy afternoon, and her home felt so cozy with two oil burning candles lit and the smell of pie and hot tea brewing. 

Mary Stone  07:18

Susan had received a gift set of blooming tea described in German and several other languages on the package; the hand tied bundles slowly unfurl into flowers when steeped in hot water. What a delight to watch, like tiny underwater gardens opening petal by petal in the teapot. It struck me how healing happens like that, not all at once, but slowly in warm kitchens, over tea and pie and conversations with people who care. And lately, I've been realizing just how many people have stepped in to help me through this difficult transition in my life. Dennis Briede, my birder buddy, whose meadow we've chatted about in several episodes, including episode 101, Woodcock Dance - Making a Meadow helped teach me how to use the tractor and spotted me during the first cut this week. I cannot tell you how comforting it was to have him nearby watching me maneuver the steep slope in the front. Monica and Bill, dear neighbors who are so helpful always. For sure, we'll be backing up Jolie care while I'm away. Their dog, boo hickles, Jolie's boyfriend will, no doubt, come down for a gallivant while I'm at camp and across the creek. My neighbor Mike came by and kindly cut up the down tree that squirrels have been nesting in over the years. It came thunderously crashing down during a storm a few weeks ago. Then there's my longtime friend from my Kiss FM Radio Days, Jonathan Taylor, JT, as listeners knew him then, who has produced songs of hospice, helping bring a dream Ken and I share to life. We're putting the finishing touches on the stories themselves, to honor the angel caregivers and the sacred gift of sharing music with patients and families at Karen and Quillen hospice. Today is the high tea fundraiser event where Ken and I will be singing. I so look forward to that. I could name so many more of you that have helped me, and I know you know who you are, and I'm grateful for you, kind listeners as we share Garden of Life stories. 

Mary Stone  09:25

I visited Tara the other day, my client, who's become a friend with the layered garden we spoke about in episode 247, nothing is wasted, leaf mold and mulch and letting go. She told me she noticed something in recent podcasts, “Your heart is healing.” She said, “I can hear it in your voice.” And it is, I feel as though I'm coming back to life. You know, we think we need to do everything ourselves. It feels a bit uncomfortable to ask for help, but life begins to change the moment we allow others to be kind to us. We don't need to carry everything by ourselves. Gardens certainly don't thrive that way. Nature intertwines roots beneath the soil. Trees communicate. Fall leaves shelter parsley through winter snow. Pole beans climb with support; even blooming tea unfolds beautifully in warm water. And perhaps we do too. 

Mary Stone  10:22

This morning, I tuned into Panache Desai Call to Calm Meditation, which is free to access. I highly recommend it, and I'll put a link in the show notes. He said something that really resonated with me, and I hope he doesn't mind that I share it with you today. He said something like  the whole point of being human is not to spend a lifetime trying to find love or earn love from others, but to discover the love already within us that is reflected back to us through others. And I'll add - in the Garden of Life.

Mary Stone  10:57

 Indeed, the beauty of bird songs, the leaves emerging in spring, and flower petals unfolding, one petal at a time, restore us too. It's okay to smile again. Amazing Grace. So, I may have to miss next week, as I'll be at Comfort Zone camp, but you will be on my mind, and I hope you keep sending your stories through my email at Ask Mary stone@gmail.com. So, as you go about your day to day, do it with a smile. In so doing, people you come across will be smiling back at you and offer help to somebody who may need it. It'll help your heart as much as it lifts the heart of a person you are helping. I look forward to the next time on the screen porch. Have a beautiful day. 

Mary Stone  11:47

You can follow garden dilemmas on Facebook or online at Garden dilemmas.com and on Instagram at hashtag. Mary Elaine stone, garden dilemmas delights and discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling. Thanks for coming by. I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch and always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great day.