Variété

Rhubarbe Hawkes’ Champagne

Le Hawkes' Champagne aurait été introduit par un certain M. Hawkes de Loampit Hill, à Lewisham, au milieu du XIXe siècle. Ni les archives de Lewisham ni le Garden Museum ne trouvent trace de lui, bien que l'annuaire des rues de Pigot de 1840 mentionne Edward Hawkes, maraîcher, à Lewisham Road, la même rue, curieusement, où se trouvaient les célèbres pépinières de rhubarbe et de fraises de Joseph Myatt.

Le champagne Hawkes' appartient peut-être à l'école ouvertement optimiste du marketing victorien, mais il n'en demeure pas moins que, si d'autres variétés ont fait leur apparition, il continue de séduire de nouveaux amateurs : en 2003, il a même remporté le très convoité Award of Garden Merit de la Royal Horticultural Society. La raison ? Eh bien, si son goût n'est pas comparable à celui d'une bouteille de Krug 1966, il est assurément tendre et sucré ; c'est même sans doute la rhubarbe la plus sucrée de toutes. Plante de taille moyenne aux tiges rouge vif, il faut quelques années pour qu'elle s'établisse, mais comme tous les vrais luxes, l'attente en vaut la peine.

A traditional variety developed by Edward Hawke in the 1850’s it has a sweet flavour and good colour, ideal for crumbles, jams and other dishes. This early to mid-season variety is reliable as an outdoor rhubarb as well as for forcing.

Couleur pétiole : Rouge vif
Origine : Angleterre
Année : 1850
Développer par : Probablement par un jardinier du marché londonien appelé Edward Hawkes de Loampit Hill, Lewisham.

Citations portant sur la Rhubarbe Hawkes’ Champagne

Rhubarb Red Champagne is a very close relative of Hawkes’ Champagne, another long- cultivated variety first introduced in the 1850s, probably by a London market gardener called Edward Hawkes.
Source : Rhubarb, rhubarb: why Victoria still reigns supreme, www.irishtimes.com, 2010

A traditional variety developed by Edward Hawke in the 1850’s it has a sweet flavour and good colour, ideal for crumbles, jams and other dishes. This early to mid-season variety is reliable as an outdoor rhubarb as well as for forcing.
Source : Brandy Carr Nurseries, UK, Brandy Carr Nurseries, UK, 2024

Hawke’s Champagne, briskly flavoured, red all through the stem; the earliest for forcing or outside culture. We were awarded F.C.C., R.H.S., for this variety ; scarce.
Source : Catalogue of fruit trees cultivated by George Bunyard & Co., Royal Nurseries, Maidstone, 1898-1899, 1898

The stalks are of a deep blood-red, rich, free from filament. Its defect is a want'of productiveness and vigor suitable to the garden of the amateur. Type of Bucks.
Source : The Gardener's monthly and horticultural advertiser, Vol3 No1, 1861, 1861

Hawkes' Champagne is recorded as having been introduced by a Mr Hawkes of Loampit Hill, Lewisham, in the mid-nineteenth century. Neither Lewisham archives nor the Garden Museum can find any record ofhim, though Pigot's 1840 street directory does list Edward Hawkes, market gardener, in nearby Lewisham Road — the same road, intriguingly, where Joseph Myatt's famous rhubarb and strawberry nurseries were to be found. As a name, Hawkes' Champagne might belong to the blatantly optimistic school of Victorian marketing, but the fact remains that while other varieties have come and gone, Hawkes' Champagne continues to attract new fans: in 2003 it even won a coveted Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society. The reason? Well, if it doesn't actually taste like a bottle of 1966 Krug, it is certainly tender and sweet — in fact it is arguably the sweetest rhubarb of all. A medium-sized plant with bright-red stems, it takes a couple ofyears to get established, but like all real luxuries, the wait is well worthwhile.
Source : Forgotten fruits - The stories behind Britain’s traditional fruit and vegetables, Christopher Stocks, 2009

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