PIGSQUEAK
We don’t hear pigs squeak in the suburbs any more. Local zoning keeps even the most devoted locavores from becoming livestock owners. Some of us do harbor pigsqueak in our gardens though, and more of us should follow suit.
“Pigsqueak” is the common name for bergenia, a lovely landscape plant. It is a tough, hardy evergreen perennial that provides attractive flowers and large rosettes of mid to dark green leaves that often turn red in the fall and hold that color through the winter.
Why is it called “pigsqueak”? Supposedly when you rub the shiny leaves together you will hear a squeaky sound. Bergenia is an old garden plant, so at some time or other, someone familiar with pigs must have noted a resemblance between the sounds of porcine commentary and bergenia leaves coming together.
At any rate, I am guilty of ignoring bergenia for years. I was finally converted by the display I saw in front of San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel. Masses of pink-flowered bergenia were the focal point of a large, showy bed, the bright flowers contrasting with shiny green leaves. I wondered where bergenia had been all my life.
It’s apparently been in Germany, where breeders have developed many new hybrids. When I got home from San Francisco I bought a German-bred bergenia to try in my own garden.
The most common garden bergenia and the parent of many hybrids is Bergenia cordifolia. The genus name, “bergenia” commemorates Karl August von Bergen, an eighteenth century German botanist. Bergenia is one of many genera that the father of plant taxonomy, Carolus Linnaeus, who was himself an eighteenth century botanist, named for other eighteenth century botanists. The species name, “cordifolia”, means “heart-shaped leaves,” and the reason for the name is obvious to anyone who sees those leaves. Originally from Siberia, Bergenia cordifolia develops a basal clump of leaves that can look somewhat cabbage-like and span up to fifteen inches. The small, bell-shaped flowers are borne in fat clusters atop twelve inch stalks. B. cordifolia’s flower color is pink, but the many cordifolia varieties and hybrids bear flowers in a range of colors from white to magenta to red.
For those who worry that installing another flowering plant means finding another sunny space in an already crowded garden, there is hope. Bergenia can tolerate light shade. The specimen in my garden gets less than six hours of sunlight a day and, though it is still young, managed to blossom impressively in its first year. Anything that grows well in my garden is also tolerant of heavy clay soil that is on the acid end of the spectrum. I am convinced that bergenia falls into the “not fussy” category of plants.
Bergenia has been around in the United States for a long time, but it is one of those plants that have always been more appreciated in Europe than here. Now that seems to be changing. Monrovia, the giant wholesale nursery, lists five bergenia among its current offerings, which means that they are available to merchandisers ranging from small garden centers to enormous big-box stores. Terra Nova Nursery, another influential breeder and wholesaler, offers Solar Flare, a flashy bergenia bred in the Netherlands. Solar Flare features green leaves with gold borders and pink flowers. The border variegation may fade during hot summers, but returns with cooler weather. Eventually, the leaves redden in the fall.
Ruddy fall leaves is a common trait in bergenia. Cultivars like the rose-flowered Cabernet and Bressingham Ruby, the red-flowered Winterglow and the magenta-flowered Evening Glow start out with green leaves in the spring but end the growing season with a reddish-burgundy cast.
For those who want some variation in flower color, Monrovia offers a cultivar called Baby Doll that features pale pink flowers that darken somewhat as they age. Another variety, Apple Blossom, has similar characteristics. Bressingham White has, as might be expected, white flowers.
Bergenia is a great investment plant because a happy bergenia expands over the years. Fortunately, the plants are very easy to divide by simply digging up the fairly shallow-rooted clumps and separating with fingers or a garden knife.
This coming spring you should be able to purchase at least one of the many bergenia cultivars from your local nursery or garden center. Go to www.monrovia.com or www.bobna.com to find store locators for Monrovia and Blooms of Bressingham products. An advance call to your local retailer will also help you avoid a fruitless bergenia search. A good retail mail order/online sources is Bluestone Perennials, Inc., 7211 Middle Ridge Rd., Madison, OH 44057, (800) 852-5243, www.bluestoneperennials.com. Many popular mail order/online nurseries also carry at least one bergenia cultivar.