Family Saxifragaceae,
Originating from Central Asia.

• An outstanding foliage display, the largest leaf of all Bergenias
• Tall very deep cerise/magenta pink flowers for many weeks in spring.
• Easy to grow and happy in deep shade, even under mature trees.

Our favourite Bergenia; massive, exotic, colourful foliage and a rich magenta flowering display, borne on tall deeply coloured stems in early spring. The stout, fleshy inflorescences bear many individual blooms with a flared trumpet shaped form, showing off the deep purple/black anthers inside, dripping in nectar which is much loved by early season pollinators.

The foliage is exceptionally glossy and has a ruffled undulating form, emerging from slowly spreading rhizomes, developing deeper shades of red and purple in winter. An essential plant for jungle gardens, where it brings a lushness to ground cover positions that us hard to match, especially with evergreen foliage. Equally at home in traditional English and woodland gardens, it is one of those species we’d find difficult to leave out of any planting scheme.

Easy to grow in any soil type, in full sun or deep shade, with the foliage becoming largest of all in dappled shade. Outstanding in difficult and dry shady areas of the garden, even under mature trees. The plants in our exotic woodland garden at Beccles grew to form a mound of foliage 40cm tall after only two seasons, with individual leaves around 25 – 30cm across. Our heavy clay soil has been intensively cultivated with horse manure, but we are considering experimenting with further regular fertilising to see just how magical and giant this variety can become.

Height and spread after 2 – 5 years 50cm x 60cm, (flower spikes add another 30 cm in height).