h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm a wee bit late with this - but I think your mystery plant - the 'Killer Rhubarb' may be a Gunnera?

But I will always think of it as Killer Rhubarb now

Excellent! Thank you. I can't remember if I mentioned it in the thread you found, but my girls (when they were little) used the leaves as pretend parasols after removing the little spines from the stem.

We used to do the same umbrella thing with the rhubarb in my Grandparent's garden when we were wee girls . In Aberdeen umbrellas were frequently more useful than parasols!

We had all sorts of games we could play with plants or bits of them. Sad but true - the days before more than 2 tv channels and computer games.