It won't grow here. If you dig through old posts on this forum you'll see it talked about recently. It likes cool weather with full sun and lots of water. Starts to go downhill when the afternoons get over 85 degrees. Most of the really big leaved plants are that way. As a substitute you can try Fatsia, Tetrapanax and Petasites. There is even a freaky large leaf form of Tetrapanax papyrifera 'Steroidal Giant' with extra large castor bean shaped leaves (like 4 feet across). I have trouble keeping it alive and it is supposed to be much more hardy than the regular form - others do well with it. Petasites or Butterburr is hard to find locally but they grew it for a while out at the Raulston Arboretum and it looked cool as a large leaf ground cover (tho not as big as it gets up north). Another overlooked monster leaf is the plain ol' dimestore Philodendron selloum. Though not truly winter hardy they will survive temps in the mid to high twenties without much damage. I mulch mine with a big pile of leaves and they've come back for three years now.

I can confirm that Gunnera tinctoria is eaten by locals in southern Chile. They peel the leaf stalk and eat the core. I've eaten it a few time but not in large quantities. It's crisp and juicy, a bit acid, not strongly flavored. I didn't have any negative reaction and the local kids seem to gather and eat it pretty regularly so I'd say edible for that species (M. tinctoria).

I have saplings of golden rain tree (Koelreuteria paniculata), Japanese snowbell (Styrax japonica) and sourwood (Oxydendron arboretum). I also have some rooted cuttings of 3 hardy fuchsias - F. regia, 'White Knights' Pearl' and 'Little Giant'. I also have a variegated Geranium macrorrhizum and a Rodgersia aesculifolia. Last but not least, I have a leatherleaf viburnum (Viburnum rhitidophyllum) and peppermint spirea (Spiraea japonica 'Shirobana/Shibori'. Anything grab your interest?

Thanks Winsorw! Jim was kind enough to give me some manicata, but I would love to get some basjoo. I'm pretty far Northeast of Auburn, but maybe we can coordinate if we are both going to be at a plant trade at the same time :) Best, Keith