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Saxifragaceae
Heart-Leaved Bergenia
Bergenia cordifolia
Endurance through harsh winters.
- Family
- Saxifragaceae
- Genus
- Bergenia
- Native to
- Siberia, Central Asia
- Bloom season
- Early Spring
- Type
- evergreen perennial
- Height
- 30–45 cm
- Sunlight
- full sun to part shade
- Soil
- moist, well-drained, humus-rich
- Water
- moderate
- Hardiness
- 3–8
- Lifespan
- long-lived perennial
Did you know
- Bergenia's leathery leaves turn bronze-red in cold weather, earning the common name 'pigsqueak' for the sound they make when rubbed.
- It thrives in Siberian winters down to minus 40 degrees, making it one of the hardiest perennials available.
- Gertrude Jekyll, the famous garden designer, championed bergenia as an essential element of English borders.
- In Mongolia and Siberia, the blackened old leaves are brewed into a traditional tea called Chagir tea.
- The thick rhizomes contain arbutin, a compound studied for skin-lightening properties in cosmetics.
Color meanings
0
perseverance
1
steady affection
2
resilience