Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now

They are huge, OK? When I slip by them at night to run the garbage out, they loom well over six feet tall. Spiny tough. Love a good swamp. That’s gunnera.

Rumor has it they date back to the Cretaceous period 100 million years ago. And by rumor, I mean scientists have found their fossilized pollen dating back that far. I can just imagine hadrosaurs — the duck-billed dinosaurs — chowing down on these guys.

They die back to nothing in the winter. In spring, they shove furled leaves up that are tender enough to attract slugs. That doesn’t last long. They get tough fast. Imagine rhubarb on steroids. Rumor also has it that the shoots are edible. But that’s not a rumor I’d trust.

Gunnera aren’t some weird little fetish of mine, either. All the best botanical gardens have them: Butchart up near Victoria BC; Shore Acres right here on the Oregon Coast.

I don’t know why I love them. Walking under their sweeping leaves in the summer dark, I sometimes feel the yard is older than old. And, of course, it is.