The ubiquitous Bergenia

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.

Skulski wrote:

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?

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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???

cohan wrote:

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.

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

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.

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)

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!  :o

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 ;)

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

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. 

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?

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

Love that 'Eroica', especially!

Lori wrote:

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.)

Schier wrote:

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.

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

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.)

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

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!....

Finally got back to the Forum: I have been in Europe for a few weeks, and spring is making inroads (between snowstorms: second snowiest February in our Denver history!): there are 15 or more species blooming from Adonis to cylamen, the first reticulatas and of course galanthus, hellebores and crocuses galore)...but no Bergenias yet: I do have some old pix that I think fit into this thread:

1) Bergenia "altaica" I photographed on the Austrian road, in Kazakhstan (near the border with China): I believe it is very close if not synonymous with B. cordifolia. An abundant plant on shady slopes along with Corydalis nobilis and Aquilegia sibirica and Clematis sibirica.
2) Our Bergenia ciliata in bloom: notice, no leaves (it is deciduous). Easily one of the loveliest of the genus. I have seen this in many public gardens in Britain: every form seems different. If it were only evergreen!
3-4) Two pix of the same colony of Bergenia cordifolia at the Rock Alpine Garden at Denver Botanic Gardens: this blooms quite early and invariably is turned black by a hard frost in late March or early April: still worth growing for that glorious pink flush: I am intrigued how different the same plant looks in different lights (captured by these two very different pix.)
5-6) Bergenia crassifolia blooms a bit later and usually doesn't get frosted as much (even though it comes from further south in Eurasia) It can get amazingly tall. The fall foliage of all Bergenia is wonderful, and this one is especially fine.
7) Bergenia delavayi is quite petite and a good doer for me: this is in my home garden
8) this is a closeup of Bergenia stracheyi in its miniature white form I obtained 32 years ago from England.

I have recapped my history with Bergenia stracheyi on a blog you might want to read:
http://prairiebreak.blogspot.com/2011/01/oh-tales-i-could-tell.htmlHere is a picture of our best colony at the Gardens (the last picture in the blog shows it in winter color) in bloom:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/108254793438701160656/albums/5394161071482244481/5394383444833948082#photos/108254793438701160656/albums/5394161071482244481/5394383444833948082

I have to admit to be jaded by swathes of cabbage Bergenia when I lived in Seattle Washington for 4 years, as there wasn't a single garden that didn't have them.  But I have to admit, they do have a great presence, and some that you show demonstrate impressive flower power as seen in the B. ciliata photo and the second B. cordifolia species. :o :o :o

I hope that my seed of B. stracheyi from Chris Chadwell collection in Little Tibet germinates.  Thanks for showing these, I think I need them, maybe good partners with Epimedium.

PS. welcome back to NARG Forum :)

All great plants, Panayoti! The little white is interesting, just because its different from the usual pink!

Yes, great plants! Although I have a few already I will have more ;)

I planted one B. 'Tubby Andrew's' last year which the resident squirrels promptly chewed off the flower stem!  >:( I'm going to have to be vigilant this year with the repellents if I'm ever to get some flowers.

I must admit I do not grow a single one!  I'll enjoy them vicariously through others!