The ubiquitous Bergenia

[Hoy]

I got B ciliata seed from Chris a couple of years ago. They sprouted easily and I have some nice plants. Oddly I can't find any pictures of flowering plants although they flower every year now. However, here is the leaves: (Early summer - later they get as big as rhubarb - almost)

[Lori S.]

How did you start the seeds, Trond?  I am under the impression that this one has a fringe of hairs on the edge of the leaf.  Is that true?  I'm interested in this one but I had no idea the leaves got so large! 

[Hoy]

Yes, I sowed seeds 4-5 years ago and they sprouted like cress. I lost several plants during the summer (always a bad time for my seedlings as I am away for weeks). However, more than enough survived and I have several in the garden. Have not found ripe seed though. The leaves grow to 20-25 cm across in late summer but that is on the plants near a watercourse. They have a fringe of hairs as you notice from the picture. I will look for seed this summer

[Lori S.]

Did you stratify the seeds, say by putting pots outside in fall or by stratifying indoors, or did they germinate under warm conditions?  Yes, I see the fringe now that I click on your photo.

[cohan]

I forget which I have seed for- its in my backlog probably Bergenia stracheyi or purpurascens ('similar to stracheyi but smaller') from Pavelka..

[Schier]

Hoy, the Bergenia ciliata with the fringe on the leaf is a good looking plant... I have had the Bergenia cordifolia and purpurascens for years and they are always welcome in the garden. They do like a bit of water now and then, and last year when there was plenty of rain they bloomed like crazy.  In the dry years, a bit pathetic sometimes.  For me they're a good old stand-by for a lot of spots. 

[Lori S.]

The flowers add to the whole scene during tulip time around here.  My pix of the old patch of bergenia are buried somewhere in my photo files, but here's a more recent acquisition that's been very slowly spreading:
 

And a close-up of a named cultivar, 'Eroica':


Tough and beautiful with year-round interest provided by the evergreen leaves... what more could one want?

[McDonough]

Ooh, nice one, such a deep color, I like it.

[RickR]

Love that 'Eroica', especially!

[Hoy]

Did you stratify the seeds, say by putting pots outside in fall or by stratifying indoors, or did they germinate under warm conditions?  Yes, I see the fringe now that I click on your photo.

I got the seed about Xmas time and sowed at once without doing anything to the seeds. I have a room with artificial light in the basement but no heating except in very cold days (which are rare) and the temperature is about 16-18C I think. They germinated rather quickly as I remember (a couple of weeks or a month - I do not write down details). (If no germination occur within a month or two I bring all the pots that I believe need stratification outside.)

[Hoy]

Hoy, the Bergenia ciliata with the fringe on the leaf is a good looking plant... I have had the Bergenia cordifolia and purpurascens for years and they are always welcome in the garden. They do like a bit of water now and then, and last year when there was plenty of rain they bloomed like crazy.  In the dry years, a bit pathetic sometimes.  For me they're a good old stand-by for a lot of spots. 

Yes I like ciliata! And it develops much better in a moist site than a drier one.

Two species and the hybrid between them (B. crassifolia and B. cordifolia) have been commonly planted here from "old times". You find them in very old gardens and also on abandoned homesteads. Now you can find several new species and hybrids and I must say that some of the new hybrids (like 'Eroica') are much better than their parents! Some of the old stands you can find on rather dry sites  but usually with their roots down a deep crevice.

[maggiepie]

I had no idea there were so many nice Bergenia ( what's the plural?) out there.
Lori, how much sun do yours get?

[Lori S.]

Hi, Helen!  Depending on where they're planted, my bergenias get almost full sun to mostly shade.  (I only have an old clump, and the two newer plants shown, plus two yet-to-ever-bloom B. stracheyi, which are also in sun.)

[Lori S.]

Ah ha, I have wondered for a long time how B. purpurascens differs from B. cordifolia, and I finally found it:
http://plantsoftibet.lifedesks.org/pages/45199

[cohan]

Interesting, since Pavelka described stracheyi as 15-30cm, and purpurascens as similar but smaller, whereas the site Lori gives mentions purpurascens as 13-50cm... mind you Pavelka's collection was 4600m, near the upper limit listed of 4800 m, so I guess if those plants were at the lower end of 13cm, they'd be smaller than the 15cm smallest stracheyi!....