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Bergenias – fan or foe?

Graham Rice,bergenia,scilla. Image ©GardenPhotos.com (all rights reserved)
Graham Stuart Thomas, one of the great plantsmen of the twentieth century, was a big fan of bergenias:

“These plants provide the ideal evergreen ground cover with bold outline and are a godsend to those dry, windy gardens where hostas do not thrive… Apart from their value in contrast to sword-like and other foliage, few plants look so well when spreading in firm bunches over the edges of paving…”*

John Raven, one of the finest writers about plants of the twentieth century, hated bergenias:

“Goodness knows why, but the insufferably coarse genus of Bergenia is apparently coming back into favour. If you grow Bergenias for their leaves you can have no appreciation of elegance and if for their flowers you must be colour-blind….”*

What do you think? Got any other juicy quotes about bergenias? Or please provide your own!

* Graham Stuart Thomas in Perennial Garden Plants, 1990 edition, page 94
* John Raven in A Botanist’s Garden, 1971, page 133

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