Thick-leaved bergenia

Family Saxifragaceae. In nature it grows in the Altai, the Sayan Mountains, Dauria, and northern Mongolia.

A perennial evergreen plant up to 60 cm tall. The rhizome is aboveground, creeping, thick, covered with dried sheaths of old leaves, from the axils of which numerous adventitious roots arise. Leaves are leathery, large, up to 35 cm, glossy, rounded-ovate, gathered in a basal rosette. In spring and autumn they acquire a beautiful lilac-red tint. The plant retains most of its leaves green until spring. Flowers are bell-shaped, up to 1 cm in diameter, lilac-pink, gathered in a dense terminal, loose paniculate inflorescence 10-15 cm long. Blooms from late April for 40-50 days. Seeds ripen in July-August and retain viability for 2 years.

Examples of cultivars:

'Гидерруспе' ('Hidenuspe') - Plant up to 60 cm tall. Flowers pale pink, up to 1 cm in diameter. Inflorescences up to 20 cm long. Blooms from late April for about 50 days.

'Пурпуреа' ('Purpurea') - Plant up to 50 cm tall. Flowers purple-red, up to 1 cm in diameter. Inflorescences up to 15 cm long. Blooms from May for 45-50 days.

'Сеньор' ('Senior') - Height of the bush 40 cm, leaves the same as the previous cultivar, flowers lilac-pink.