The ubiquitous Bergenia

[Hoy]

Although many people, myself included, seem to think Bergenia is coarse plants some of them are rather nice. Therefore I have several clumps of them and they tolerate all kind of weather. The best is that slugs detest the plants.

As usual have I forgotten the cultivar's name but I think it is a B. cordifolia-type. Other types have not started to bloom yet.

[Lori S.]

Mine are showing buds but will not bloom for a while yet.

I have been growing Bergenia strachyi for many years now, but without a single bloom!  What's the secret to this one?  I find that it is somewhat herbaceous in this climate, rather than completely evergreen, as with B. cordifolia.

[Hoy]

Mine are showing buds but will not bloom for a while yet.

I have been growing Bergenia strachyi for many years now, but without a single bloom!  What's the secret to this one?  I find that it is somewhat herbaceous in this climate, rather than completely evergreen, as with B. cordifolia.

I have never experienced that Bergenias won't flower except in heavy shade, but maybe the buds are damaged by something?

[Lori S.]

No buds even!  They are growing in pretty much the same conditions as my other bergenias, which are irrepressible.

[Hoy]

Then I have no idea at all - other than trying to move it.

[Todd Boland]

I don't grow any Bergenia myself but we have a few at the BG...blooming now is B. ciliata (a deciduous type) and Bressingham Salmon.

[Hoy]

Nice blooming, Todd!
I have B. ciliatum grown from seed but they have been very slow this spring and the buds are damaged by slugs and cold weather this year. Often they stay green all winter with huge leaves.

[Kelaidis]

Bergenia are not so ubiquitous in Colorado as they are in the Pacific Northwest or martime Eastern North America. But with a little shade and irrigation they grow well here too: the best for us seems to be B. stracheyi, which I saw growing in vast swaths in Pakistan in 2001 (apparently not palatable to the even more ubiquitous herbivores which pretty much elminated everything else...except for the similarly unpalatable Polygonum capitatum, which also formed vast monocultures there). My first picture below is of our finest clump of Bergenia crassifolia,  now 30 years in the spreading at the Rock Alpine Garden at Denver Botanic Gardens. Most years the flowers are frost burned, but this miraculous spring (although we do have an inch or two of snow today, May 12!) was so mild it bloomed perfectly! The second picture is a closeup of Bergenia stracheyi,  in its white form, in my home garden. This miniature is a must, spreading quickly and widely with its trim wonderful leaves that turn a gorgeous russet and orange in the autumn. I cannot put my hands on my picture of Bergenia delavayi, with particularly wonderful dark pink flowers and nodding habit and not too big for the rock garden either...yes, I do love these pigsqueaks, as a friend named them for the endearing sound their leaves make if you rub them just right.

[Hoy]

Very nice your pigsqueaks are!
Bergenia is one of the genuses grown in Norway for generations but they are not native here. They are often found in rocky areas of homesteads and old gardens.

[Todd Boland]

I always wondered where the name 'pigsqueak' came from...I must give it a try!

[Lori S.]

It comes from the sound made when rubbing the rubbery leaf hard between your fingers, Todd... or so I've read, not that I've done it.

Edit:  Oops, I see that this was already noted above.

[cohan]

All nice- I'm quite fond of these guys-- I have none, (though I have seed for some small species to sow- forget which!).. I think the common type (cordifolia?) is pretty commonly grown in Edmonton...

Is pigsqueak a name for bergenia???

[Lori S.]

All nice- I'm quite fond of these guys-- I have none, (though I have seed for some small species to sow- forget which!).. I think the common type (cordifolia?) is pretty commonly grown in Edmonton...

Is pigsqueak a name for bergenia???

Yes, and yes.  Bergenia cordifolia is completely bullet-proof and so very commonly-grown across the cold prairies.  Pigsqueak seems to be a British common name for it; I've never heard anyone use that common name here.  I think people do refer to it as "elephant ears" sometimes... which will certainly cause confusion with all the other plants for which that common name is used.

[cohan]

One of the reasons I'm not fond of common names... Pigsqueak is a bit more original!..lol

[McDonough]

Received seed of Bergenia stracheyi from Chris Chadwell share, so with luck in a couple years I'll have a nice crop of pigsqueak, and I shall definietly squeak the foliage.