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‘Hawke’s Champagne’ is a distinguished heritage rhubarb variety celebrated for its exceptional sweetness, tenderness, and early cropping ability, with origins dating back to the 1850s. Developed by Edward Hawke, a London market gardener from Lewisham,. The variety has endured for over 150 years and remains highly regarded; in 2003 it was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society’s prestigious Award of Garden Merit.
A hardy perennial, Hawke’s Champagne is widely considered the sweetest and most tender of all rhubarb varieties, with a delicate, mild flavour and exceptionally soft texture. Grown in the open, it produces vibrant pink-red stems with green flesh inside. Forced plants—grown in darkness—yield slender, pale pink to pink-green stalks with an even finer, sweeter taste. The best variety for forcing.
The plant is early to mid-season, highly reliable, and medium in size, reaching around 60 cm in height with a spread of up to 1.2 m, and features characteristic heart-shaped leaves. Its culinary versatility makes it ideal for jams, jellies, crumbles, and pies, while its refined flavour is especially prized for making rhubarb-infused gin.
For best results it should be grown in rich, moist but well-drained soil, planted in full sun with spacing of 75 cm to 1.2 m between plants; harvesting can begin in early spring if forced or later in spring when grown outdoors, harvesting should be avoided in the first year to allow the crown to establish fully.
‘Hawke’s Champagne’ is a distinguished heritage rhubarb variety celebrated for its exceptional sweetness, tenderness, and early cropping ability, with origins dating back to the 1850s. Developed by Edward Hawke, a London market gardener from Lewisham,. The variety has endured for over 150 years and remains highly regarded; in 2003 it was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society’s prestigious Award of Garden Merit.
A hardy perennial, Hawke’s Champagne is widely considered the sweetest and most tender of all rhubarb varieties, with a delicate, mild flavour and exceptionally soft texture. Grown in the open, it produces vibrant pink-red stems with green flesh inside. Forced plants—grown in darkness—yield slender, pale pink to pink-green stalks with an even finer, sweeter taste. The best variety for forcing.
The plant is early to mid-season, highly reliable, and medium in size, reaching around 60 cm in height with a spread of up to 1.2 m, and features characteristic heart-shaped leaves. Its culinary versatility makes it ideal for jams, jellies, crumbles, and pies, while its refined flavour is especially prized for making rhubarb-infused gin.
For best results it should be grown in rich, moist but well-drained soil, planted in full sun with spacing of 75 cm to 1.2 m between plants; harvesting can begin in early spring if forced or later in spring when grown outdoors, harvesting should be avoided in the first year to allow the crown to establish fully.