when we took over our lotty last year (mares tail and ground elder covered - horrible thing. An ongoing project...) we had no rhubarb. Now I personally hate the stuff, but my friend who I share the lottie with loves it. He bought a plant,thena week later we spotted a couple of old looking croowns in the hedge. There wasa one massive old dry looking one which split into 3. Each of those got planted and now they're looking far far happier than the one he bought :)