Re: [SG] dry shade---Bergenia
- To: s*@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
- Subject: Re: [SG] dry shade---Bergenia
- From: "* L* S* <t*@LINKFAST.NET>
- Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 08:46:55 -0600
At 2:02 AM 2/26/99, Marge Talt wrote:
>Thanks, Lillian...now, I'm wondering if humidity is a real factor here?
>Any thoughts you successful growers out there?
>
>Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
>mtalt@clark.net
Hi all as some of you know I have been having server problems so if this Q
has been answered my apologies.--trying to catch up with 500+ posts lost in
cyber space.
doesn't dry shade mean not soggy but no direct sun??
i don't think it matters with this discription:
"Heart-leaved Bergenia"
Bergenia cordifolia
B. cordifolia (heart-leaved bergenia), B. crassifolia (leather
bergenia), B. hybrids.
Bergenias appel to gardeners because of their large handsome leaves
and their 3-
to 6- inch clusters of delicate flowers, which appear in spring.
Colors range from
deep purplish pink to pale pink and occasionally white. The leaves of the
heart-leaved bergenia are 8 to 10 inches across with sawtoothed
edges; flowers
are borne on nodding stems that extend barely above the foliage. The
leather
bergenia has oval leaves of similar size; its flowers bloom on stout
stems 12
inches or more above the foliage. Because the leaves are attractive
even after the
flowers fade-they remain green thoroughout the year in southern
regions and turn
a handsome bronze in the fall in cold areas-the plants are often
used near the
front of a border or along a path.
HOW TO GROW. Bergenias can be grown in Zones 4-10 except in Florida
and along
the Gulf Coast; they thrive in almost any soil in full sun or light
shade, although
they prefer light shade in hot areas. They tolerate a wide range of
moisture
conditions, growing slowly in dry areas and rapidly in constantly
wet spots, such
as beside a brook or pool. Set plants 12 to 15 inches apart. In
Zones 4-6 cover
the plants with a mulch of salt hay or straw to shade the leaves
from winter sun.
New plants can be started by dividing and resetting clumps when they
become
overcrowded, usually after three or four years of flowering.
Copyright: Time Life Inc. All rights Reserved
--leslie
Master Gardener Intern (Student), Zone 7(a?) low of 9F this year, in
Humid, HUMID Cullman, Alabama.
"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."
- Cicero
"If life is a process of discovering who we are, Y2K is when we find out."
Tom Atlee, President, Co-Intelligence Institute
