Winter Blooming Bergenia (Bergenia crassifolia)

Bergenia, Leather Bergenia, Pigsqueak, Siberian Tea, Winter blooming bergenia

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If you’ve got a shady spot you want to brighten in your garden but you’re tired and bored with hostas, then Bergenia might be just the plant you’re looking for. Bergenia, also known as pigsqueak for the sound it makes when two leaves are rubbed together, fills that shady or dappled spot in your garden where so many flowers shy away. Bergenia plant care takes very little time, as these are low-maintenance plants. Learn how to care for a bergenia plant and brighten up your shady landscape corners.

I. Appearance and Characteristics 

Bergenia crassifolia is a species of flowering plant of the genus Bergenia in the family Saxifragaceae. Common names for the species include heart-leaved bergenia, heartleaf bergenia, leather bergenia, winter-blooming bergenia, elephant-ears, elephant’s ears, Korean elephant-ear, badan, pigsqueak, Siberian tea, and Mongolian tea.

The species epithet crassifolia means “thick-leaved”, while the epithet in the synonym Bergenia cordifolia means “cordate (heart-shaped) leaf” (although the leaves may also be described as spoon-shaped). The cultivar ‘Rosa Zeiten’ has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.

It grows to about 12 inches (30 cm) tall. The leaves are winter hardy in warmer climates and change colour in the range of rust brown to brown-red. The rhizome is creeping, fleshy, thick, reaching several meters in length and 3.5 cm in diameter, with numerous root lobes, highly branched, located near the soil surface, turning into a powerful vertical root. The stem is thick, leafless, glabrous, pink-red, 15-50 cm high.

Leaves are in a basal dense rosette (wintering under the snow), dark green, which redden by autumn, with an almost rounded blade and a membranous sheath remaining up to two to three years. The leaf blade is broadly elliptical or almost rounded, rounded or chordate at the base, obtuse or indistinctly dentate, 3–35 cm long, 2.5–30 cm wide, on wide petioles not exceeding the length of the plate, equipped at the base with membranous vaginal stipules .

Winter Blooming Bergenia (Bergenia crassifolia)

Flowers are small, regular, lacking bracts, in apical thick paniculately-corymbiform inflorescence, usually two for long reddish leafless peduncle length of 4 cm. Calyx is naked half dissected into five oval top rounded lobes of up to 4 mm; petals obovate or broadly ovate, with a wide short marigold, 10-12 mm long, 6-8 mm wide, with a blunt-rounded apex and many veins, purple-red or pink. The stamens are twice as long as the calyx, and there are ten of them. Pistil has a semi-lower ovary, deeply divided into two (three) columns with wide stigmas.

The fruit is an ellipsoidal, dry capsule with two diverging lobes opening along the abdominal suture. Seeds are numerous, oblong, smooth, glabrous, faceted, almost black, up to 2 mm long.

The plant blooms in late spring and early summer before the appearance of young leaves. The seeds ripen in mid or late summer.

II. How to Grow and Care

Sunlight

Bergenia plants are ideal candidates for the shade garden. They thrive in partial shade but will also tolerate heavy shade. But, of course, the more sun plants receive, the more moisture they will need.

Temperature and Humidity

Bergenia plants grow well in areas with hot or cool summers if they have enough shade and moisture. They also do well in humid areas. Winter damage is more extensive in colder climates.

Watering

Bergenia likes consistent moisture. To maintain a moist root zone, spread a three-inch layer of mulch around the plants. Plants growing in deep shade can survive periods of drought better than those growing in a location that receives more sun.

Soil

Like many plants, bergenia grows well in rich, loamy soil and will expand to grow large clumps in that environment. However, bergenia can also tolerate clay soil, which you can enrich over time with a top dressing of compost.

Fertilizing

Bergenia plants are light feeders and do not need supplemental fertilizer to look their best. Growing bergenia plants in loamy soil amended with organic matter provides all the nutrients they need.

Pruning

In general, bergenia plants need little in the way of pruning. You can cut back spent flower stalks to keep plants looking tidy in the summer. In areas where the foliage is marginally evergreen, trimming back tattered foliage will also increase plant tidiness.

Propagation

Making new bergenia plants is as simple as the process of dividing them. Divide plants in the fall to prevent any disruption to the blooming cycle. Here’s how:

  • Dig up the root ball, and tease apart a clump of foliage and roots with your fingers, as shown in the photo.
  • Create big divisions with at least five to seven leaves to make an impact in the garden.
  • Replant the divisions in a suitable location and water until moist.

How to Grow from Seed

If you have patience and want to grow many bergenia plants for the landscape, you can start from seed. Seeds need light to germinate, so press them lightly into sterile potting soil. Keep the soil moist and warm while waiting for germination, which can take four to six weeks.

Potting and Repotting 

Bergenia makes an attractive container specimen. Combine bergenia with other pretty foliage choices, like coral bells and Japanese painted fern.

Bergenia plants will grow in any commercial potting soil in a pot with a diameter of at least 12 inches. Repot your plants in the spring after flowering, and divide as needed to keep plants from becoming overcrowded.

Overwintering

Bergenia will survive the winter in an outdoor container in USDA Hardiness Zone 7 and warmer. Dress bergenia with a layer of compost in early winter. Cover clumps of bergenia with straw or chopped leaves to protect them against freezing winter temperatures. This barrier protects the foliage and roots from the freezing and thawing cycle.

Pests and Diseases

Like many plants that grow well in shady areas, bergenia plants can suffer from slug and snail damage to the foliage and are susceptible to black vine weevils. There are several ways to deal with these pests, including beer bait traps, cardboard traps, and diatomaceous earth.

Bergenia, while resistant to many plant diseases, can get fungal leaf spot and anthracnose, which is another type that looks similar to fungal leaf spot. If you notice any spots on the leaves of your plant, treat them as soon as you can. Remove any infected leaves on the plant and the surrounding ground, and treat with a fungicide. Proper watering techniques can help prevent these types of fungus.

Crown rot is another disease that can affect this plant, so be careful when planting or mulching, and leave the crown of the plant uncovered to avoid the problem

III. Uses and Benefits 

  • Ornamental uses

As an ornamental plant, it has been known in culture since the middle of the 18th century, it is used for landscaping, in stone gardens, arrays of shrubs and trees.

  • Medicinal uses

The medicinal properties of the plant have long been used in Russian folk medicine, as well as in the medicine of Tibet and China. Aqueous extracts of rhizome and leaves inside are used for colitis and enterocolitis of a non-infectious nature, tuberculosis, acute and chronic pneumonia, pulmonary haemorrhage, influenza and some other infections, laryngitis, headaches, fevers, articular rheumatism and gastrointestinal diseases.

  • Other uses

Bergenia crassifolia is used as a tea substitute in its native Siberia, Altay and Mongolia. For medicinal purposes, rhizomes are used, which are collected by hand, cleaned and washed in cold running water. Large rhizomes are cut into long pieces. After preliminary drying, they are dried in the shade or in a well-ventilated area, laid out in a layer of 5 cm on paper or fabric. Leaves are used much less often. It is used in tanning sole and Russian leather, as well as the impregnation of nets and tarpaulins . The raw materials collected high in the mountains contain more tannides than in the low mountains.

Winter Blooming Bergenia (Bergenia crassifolia) Details

Common name

Bergenia, Leather Bergenia, Pigsqueak, Siberian Tea, Winter blooming bergenia

Botanical name

Bergenia crassifolia

Family

Saxifragaceae

Species

crassifolia

Origin

East Asia, Northwest China, Siberia to North Korea

Life cycle

Plant type

Hardiness zone

, , , , ,

Sunlight

Maintenance

Soil condition

Soil ph

Drainage

Growth rate

Spacing

Less than 12 in.

Harvest time

Flowering period

Height

1 ft. – 1 ft. 6 in.

Width

1 ft. – 1 ft. 6 in.

Flower color

,

Leaf color

Fruit color

Stem color

Green

Fruit type

Leaf benefit

Flower benefit

Garden style

Uses

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