{"id":77,"date":"2008-01-21T06:31:35","date_gmt":"2008-01-21T14:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/garden\/?p=77"},"modified":"2015-11-24T07:33:24","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T15:33:24","slug":"pigsqueak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/pigsqueak\/","title":{"rendered":"Pigsqueak"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

PIGSQUEAK<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We don’t hear pigs squeak in the suburbs any more.\u00a0 Local zoning keeps even the most devoted locavores from becoming livestock owners.\u00a0 Some of us do harbor pigsqueak in our gardens though, and more of us should follow suit.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 “Pigsqueak”\u009d is the common name for bergenia, a lovely landscape plant.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Why is it called “pigsqueak”\u009d?\u00a0 Supposedly when you rub the shiny leaves together you will hear a squeaky sound.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 At any rate, I am guilty of ignoring bergenia for years.\u00a0 I was finally converted by the display I saw in front of San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel.\u00a0 Masses of pink-flowered bergenia were the focal point of a large, showy bed, the bright flowers contrasting with shiny green leaves.\u00a0 I wondered where bergenia had been all my life.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It’s apparently been in Germany, where breeders have developed many new hybrids.\u00a0 When I got home from San Francisco I bought a German-bred bergenia to try in my own garden.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The most common garden bergenia and the parent of many hybrids is Bergenia cordifolia.\u00a0 The genus name, “bergenia”\u009d commemorates Karl August von Bergen, an eighteenth century German botanist.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The species name, “cordifolia”\u009d, means “heart-shaped leaves,”\u009d and the reason for the name is obvious to anyone who sees those leaves.\u00a0 Originally from Siberia, Bergenia cordifolia develops a basal clump of leaves that can look somewhat cabbage-like and span up to fifteen inches.\u00a0 The small, bell-shaped flowers are borne in fat clusters atop twelve inch stalks.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For those who worry that installing another flowering plant means finding another sunny space in an already crowded garden, there is hope.\u00a0 Bergenia can tolerate light shade.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Anything that grows well in my garden is also tolerant of heavy clay soil that is on the acid end of the spectrum.\u00a0 I am convinced that bergenia falls into the “not fussy”\u009d category of plants.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Now that seems to be changing.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Terra Nova Nursery, another influential breeder and wholesaler, offers Solar Flare, a flashy bergenia bred in the Netherlands.\u00a0 Solar Flare features green leaves with gold borders and pink flowers.\u00a0 The border variegation may fade during hot summers, but returns with cooler weather.\u00a0 Eventually, the leaves redden in the fall.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ruddy fall leaves is a common trait in bergenia.\u00a0 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Another variety, Apple Blossom, has similar characteristics.\u00a0 Bressingham White has, as might be expected, white flowers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bergenia is a great investment plant because a happy bergenia expands over the years.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This coming spring you should be able to purchase at least one of the many bergenia cultivars from your local nursery or garden center.\u00a0 Go to www.monrovia.com<\/font><\/a> or www.bobna.com<\/font><\/a> to find store locators for Monrovia and Blooms of Bressingham products.\u00a0 An advance call to your local retailer will also help you avoid a fruitless bergenia search.\u00a0 A good retail mail order\/online sources is Bluestone Perennials, Inc., 7211 Middle Ridge Rd., Madison, OH 44057, (800) 852-5243, <\/font>www.bluestoneperennials.com<\/font><\/a>.\u00a0 Many popular mail order\/online nurseries also carry at least one bergenia cultivar.<\/font>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PIGSQUEAK \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We don’t hear pigs squeak in the suburbs any more.\u00a0 Local zoning keeps even the most devoted locavores from becoming livestock owners.\u00a0 Some of us do harbor pigsqueak in our gardens though, and more of us should follow suit. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 “Pigsqueak”\u009d is the common name for bergenia, a lovely landscape plant.\u00a0 It is … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-spring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1703,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions\/1703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}