They know such a flower as bergenia. He is disliked by lovers of effects, exotics. Nevertheless, this plant is often found on our summer cottages. But summer residents are unaware of the variety of bergenia. As a plant, I described bergenia in the article ““. Here we will consider the types and varieties of badans. The peculiarities of these colors are imbued with lovers of peace, unhurried transformations. Badan hearty (Bergenia cordifolia) has many forms with flowers of various colors - from pink to purple. Interestingly, the shades of color of its inflorescences on one bush can change from year to year. It has large leaves, wavy along the edge, sitting on long petioles. Therefore, the bush seems very lush. In summer, the leaves are pure green, in cold weather they become covered with red-brown dots, like splashes.

The variety "Water Kinley" bush loose, more growing, each year significantly changing its silhouette, which must be taken into account when planting next to other plants. Its inflorescences are powerful, rich purple-red.

Rosea is one of the first varieties to bloom. A dense, large, juicy pink inflorescence begins to bloom directly from bright green leaves. Gradually, the peduncle is drawn out. The inflorescence begins to look like a whole bouquet, decorates the garden for several weeks.

The Purpurea variety forms a spherical bush because there are so many leaves and half of them are vertical. This variety has abundant flowering, bright lilac-purple inflorescences. He feels great even on highly moistened soils, does not lose leaf turgor for a long time in the sun.

What bergenias attract the attention of many summer residents is the autumn color of the leaves. After the first frost, the leaves of the Purpurea variety are painted in three colors: part is filled with crimson, part is purple, and the third part remains green. Very beautiful in a faded autumn garden.

Plum chestnut color autumn leaves in the "Magic Night" variety. The varied red hues of 'Purpurglocken' leaves accentuate the reblooming light purple inflorescences at this time.

As you can see, there are a lot of varieties. You can divide them into groups according to the size of the bush: large, 50-60 cm high and miniature - no higher than 20-30 cm. Varieties with bright autumn leaf color can be distinguished. According to the color of the inflorescences, groups of varieties with white and very light colors, lilac-pink, purple and red.

It should be noted that if wild species are highly frost-resistant, most of the new varieties of Western European selection should be classified as "freezing", requiring special care. Russian varieties no, but there are seedlings that surpass most foreign varieties in hardiness. They are characterized by stable flowering, many of them in the Non-Black Earth region are prone to remontance.

Among the huge variety of bergenia varieties, each summer resident can choose for himself those that will delight him for many years.

Many plants are grown in the backyard only because of their bright appearance- beautiful and attractive flowers or bright juicy leaves. And only a few cultures combine these qualities. Also, only a small number of ornamental plants can boast of having useful qualities- the ability to prevent and treat various pathological conditions. Just such properties are distinguished by badan hearty, let's clarify how the landing is carried out this plant, and what kind of care he needs, we will also discuss the cultivation of badan hearty from seeds.

Heart-leaved bergenia is also known as bergenia cordifolia. Many flower growers love it for its attractive large, shiny and truly chic leaves, while others like its pink, lilac or white bell-shaped flowers, which look favorably against the backdrop of foliage, rising on strong legs. Such a plant came to us from Siberia, from the regions of the Altai Mountains. And now it is popular in landscape design.

Growing bergenia from seeds

Such a plant is quite often propagated by dividing the bush, but in principle, readers of "Popular about Health" can try to grow it from seeds. Such planting material sown before winter. For this purpose, you need to take a flower box right size, fill it with soil mixture. In the soil, you need to make grooves with an interval of three centimeters, one from the second. Their optimal depth is five millimeters. Put the bergenia seeds in the grooves and cover them with soil. landing box must be taken outside and placed under the snow. Toward the beginning of March, you can remove the container with crops and bring it into the room. Optimal conditions for germination - partial shade and a temperature of eighteen to nineteen degrees.

Seedlings appear in just three weeks. They need to be moved to a more lit place. In the future, the growing seedlings should be watered periodically (as the topsoil dries up), and the soil around small plants should also be loosened. In addition, it is important to ventilate the room. Seedlings need to be thinned so that they do not interfere with each other.

If suddenly a green crust or plaque appears on the surface of the soil, it is necessary to carefully loosen the earth.

In the month of May, the grown seedlings should be transferred to a box with an interval of five to seven centimeters. Optimal Width row spacing - fifteen centimeters. Somewhere a couple of weeks before the planned landing in the garden, it is worth starting to gradually harden off the seedlings. It should be taken out to the balcony or terrace, gradually increasing the duration of stay on fresh air. After the young plants get used to spending the night on the street, you can transplant them into open ground.

Planting bergenia hearty

Optimal time for planting hearty bergenia in open ground - the beginning of August. It is worth noting that such a plant has a weak and horizontal root system, so it is best to grow it on light, loose, moist and slightly alkaline soils. Badan roots quite often crawl out to the surface of the earth, so you need to protect them from the bright sun. Accordingly, it is better to plant such plants in partial shade, on the north, northeast or northwest side. personal plot. If this is not possible, the landing site must be mulched without fail.

It is worth remembering that badan does not tolerate stagnant water at all.
For planting plants, it is worth making holes in the soil, the depth of which is six to eight centimeters. They need to be arranged in a checkerboard pattern with an interval of forty centimeters. At the bottom of each hole, it is worth filling up a handful of sand for proper drainage. After that, it is necessary to transfer the plant along with an earthen clod and carefully dig it. Then planting must be watered.

It is worth noting that the hearty bergenia grows rather slowly, and begins to bloom only three to four years after planting (when grown from seeds).

Features of caring for bergenia hearty

Such a plant is not capricious at all. It needs to be watered in a timely manner, but not too often. If the summer turned out to be dry, moistening is carried out only three times per season - at the budding stage, during the flowering period, and somewhere two to three weeks after it ends.

Dying leaves of bergenia need to be cut off (without leaving cuttings). The soil should be mulched.

In the spring, after the snow has melted, it is worth fertilizing the plants using complex mineral fertilizers. The next top dressing is carried out a couple of weeks after the end of the flowering period - at the stage of growing new leaves.

Badan is usually fertilized using the composition of Kemira-combi, a tablespoon of which must be diluted in a bucket of water. This amount of fertilizer should be enough for two square meters site.

Young plants must be covered for the winter, as they may suffer from frost. In autumn, they should be sprinkled with dry leaves or sprinkled with spruce branches. Mature plants winter well without shelter.

In the spring, you need to cut off the affected leaves from the badan and cut off the overgrown shoots.

Thus, the hearty bergenia is a completely non-capricious plant. It can be easily grown in your backyard.

Name: in honor of the German botanist Karl August von Bergen. Badan belongs to the saxifrage family. The name "saxifrage" is associated with the habitat of many representatives of this family on stones, stony substrates. Settling in the cracks of the rocks, they seem to break the stones. But there is another, more prosaic explanation: some types of badans were used in traditional medicine as a remedy for kidney stones. Badan culture has existed in Europe since the middle of the 18th century.

The botanical community learned about bergenia after a previously unknown Siberian plant was sent to Carl Linnaeus from St. Petersburg in 1760. He called it saxifrage thick-leaved (Saxifraga crassifolia) and this name was in use for a long time, even after the German botanist Konrad Mönch identified bergenia as a separate genus - bergenia (in honor of the botanist and doctor - Karl August von Bergen).

Description: 10 species are known, distributed in alpine meadows and rocky slopes of the mountains of Central Asia. Perennial rhizomatous, rarely annual herbaceous plants. Leaves in basal rosettes, petiolate, large, dark green, shiny, leathery, rounded, hibernating. Flowers with a bell-shaped corolla, red, pink or white, collected in crowded corymbose inflorescences. The fruit is a box.

Currently garden molds widely used in many gardens in Europe. However, badan is undeservedly rarely used as ornamental plant in our country. The range of possible use of bergenia in plantings is wide: these are fragments of the garden that imitate the natural landscape (edges, glades, meadows, banks of reservoirs, streams, rocky gardens), single-species groups of plants against the background of the lawn and borders. With their ornamental shape, color of leaves and inflorescences, they create picturesque compositions in various types planting from early spring to late autumn.

In the spring, as soon as the snow melts, inflorescences appear above the overwintered rosettes - pink, white, scarlet, purple, light or dark purple. Peduncles grow and bloom at the same time. Sometimes the first tier of the inflorescence opens almost at the level of the foliage or even is sandwiched between elastic leaves, but when the last "bell" in the brush opens, the peduncle reaches its proper height (from 20 to 60 cm).

You can admire the flowering of even a small collection of bergenia for more than a month and a half. One of the first, at the end of April, hearty (B. cordifolia), thick-leaved (B. crassifolia), Schmidt (B. x schmidtiana) and some varieties derived from them bloom. Late ones ("Morgenrote", "Sunningdale") bloom in early June. There are also remontant varieties. Many cultivars retain winter-colored crimson leaves during flowering.

In summer, all badans have beautiful dense green leaves; they serve as an excellent backdrop for flowering plants. After their flowering until mid-July, the incense "rest". Then begins the period of growth of the rhizome and the laying of the buds of new rosettes, which will bloom only after two to three years.

The second peak of decorativeness comes in the fall. With the first night frosts, bergenia begins to accumulate sugar in its tissues, allowing it to endure the winter well. About the coming of this milestone indicates a change in the color of the leaves. At different varieties and species this process occurs in different ways. In some, the edge of the sheet first “warms up”, becoming brighter with increasing cold weather. In others, the reddened border gradually turns into bizarre divorces and spots. In still others, the entire surface of the leaf immediately becomes crimson, purple or crimson.

Bergenia cordifolia (Haw.) A. Br.

Homeland - Altai. It is an intraspecific variety of thick-leaved bergenia (previously considered a separate species)

Plant up to 40 cm tall. The leaves are round, heart-shaped, rough, dark green, hibernating under snow until spring. The flowers are bell-shaped lilac-pink or deep pink, collected in racemose, somewhat inclined inflorescences. Blossoms in May 20 days after bergenia thick-leaved. In culture since 1779. Known varieties with white and lavender flowers. Winter-hardy up to - 40 degrees.

badan

General characteristics

perennial evergreen from the saxifrage family. It has a thick creeping branching aerial rhizome. In summer, badans delight with their beautiful dense green leaves that form a rosette; they serve as an excellent backdrop for flowering plants. Leaves turn reddish in autumn.

Flowers and fruits

In early spring, immediately after the snow melts, inflorescences appear - pink, white, scarlet, purple, light or dark purple. Peduncles grow and bloom at the same time. Sometimes the first tier of the inflorescence opens almost at the level of foliage or even is sandwiched between elastic leaves, the peduncle can reach from 20 to 60 cm in height. Flowering lasts about 40 - 45 days.

Optimal growing conditions, planting and care

Badans can grow on sunny areas, as well as in partial shade. However, as groundcover shows itself better in partial shade, where it forms more dense and long-term thickets. The soil is preferred loose, rich in organic matter, well-drained.

Reproduction methods

Badans can be propagated by seeds and vegetatively.
But seed reproduction is rather difficult, since showers usually pass in the second half of June. Plant seed pods get wet and dry. Therefore, if you need to get mature seeds, you need to cover the seed pods. Despite the bad weather, the seeds ripen annually only in Strechi's bergenia (B. stracheyi).
Seeds are sown in March (in a greenhouse or at home), subjected to preliminary cold stratification. Picked seedlings are planted in open ground at the end of June. For the winter, they must be covered with foliage (they develop slowly and have no more than two leaves by autumn). Plants bloom in the 3-4th year.
Therefore, it is more reliable to propagate bergenia vegetatively - by cuttings (separation of rosettes) or by dividing the rhizome. It is necessary to plant rosettes finely, no more than 1-2 cm. Plants are cut shortly after flowering - from May to August. The bushes are divided in the first half of September. Segments of aboveground creeping rhizomes up to 10–20 cm long must have at least three buds. Delenki are planted at a distance of 30–40 cm. They are placed horizontally, buried only halfway into the soil and fixed for better rooting. Before the onset of winter, the plants should take root.

Application

It is used for registration of lawns and rabatok. It looks interesting in mixed landscape-type compositions in combination with woody and shrubby plants. Looks good in groups with rhododendrons, euonymus, derain, juniper. For a spring flower garden, blueberries and crocuses are suitable as partners. It also looks interesting in rocky gardens and rock gardens.
In addition, badan is popular in everyday life and medicine. Badan root contains tannins. Tonic tea is prepared from bergenia leaves. Badan - medicinal plant, the healing properties of bergenia have long been used in folk medicine.

Species, varieties, forms

(Vergenia x hybrida)

garden hybrids various origins, of which the most commonly used in culture the following varieties:

Badan thick-leaved (Ranotsvet, Chagyr tea, Mongolian tea)

(Vergenia crassifolia)

perennial herbaceous plant with an aboveground rhizome up to 1 m long and a leafless powerful stem-peduncle up to 50 cm high. The leaves are large (up to 35 cm long and up to 30 cm wide), smooth, rich green, rounded and form a lush dense rosette at the base. small pink flowers-bells are collected in a lush corymbose-paniculate inflorescence located at the top of the stem. The fruit is a box. Flowering begins in May and continues until June.

Has several varieties:

Subspecies of badan thick-leaved:

(Vergenia stracheyi)

Differs in rather medium-sized leaves 8-10 cm long and 3-5 cm wide. They are egg-shaped, glossy, oblong, serrated along the edge, preserved under snow. The flowers are white or lilac-pink, collected in a racemose inflorescence. Blooms in July-August. Flowering shoots 30-40 cm high. Fruits in September-October. Rhizomes creeping along the surface of the earth take root along the entire length.

Has several varieties:

(Vergenia schmidtii)

Obtained by crossing b. ciliated with b. thick-leaved. Unpretentious and winter-hardy bergenia is very popular in Europe.
Strong plant with oval dark green leaves, up to 25 cm long and up to 15 wide, with a serrated edge, sparse fringe of hairs and long petioles. It is easy to distinguish from other varieties by original form leaves with "wings" growing almost from the base of the petiole. Bright pink flowers in short, dense inflorescences droop at the beginning of flowering, and then take either a horizontal or vertical position. By winter, the leaves change into a bright deep red, and sometimes it even blooms again.

Badan - perennial family Saxifrage. It is also called Bergenia (lat.Bergenia). It grows mainly in forests, on wet slopes in river valleys, as it does not tolerate direct sunlight, which slows down its growth.

Characterized by a powerful root system, shiny leaves and bright flowers different colors. Flowering occurs in spring and summer. At this moment, an arrow is thrown out, reaching 0.4-0.5 m, with a dense bunch of inflorescences, in which there are a lot of seeds. It can grow in one place for up to ten years and does not require constant transplants in spring and autumn.

Species and varieties

It is used as medicinal tea, and added to food (soups or as a spice for meat) cut into small pieces, dried root. hallmark is that the leaves are very large and resemble cabbage in shape, and in autumn they acquire a reddish tint. Inflorescences have a dark pink hue.

Or erotica (lat. Eroica) you can find inflorescences of white, pink, lilac and purple color with large leaves in the shape of a heart, for which the flower got its name.

It blooms with bright, light purple flowers similar in shape to bells.

This variety is obtained by crossing different varieties.

Some of them:

The buds are light pink and flesh-colored. blooms in spring period(April May). Winter resistant. Not whimsical, can grow even in stony soil, but does not like a lot of water.

Inflorescences are pink-red, up to 0.35 m high.

Considered one of the largest this class, reaches 0.5 m in height. It has wavy large leaves and bright pink flowers.

This is the most popular type of medicinal badan. Both the top and the root are used as raw materials for the healing infusion.

Badan planting and care in the open field

Badan is very easy to grow, the main thing is to create for it favorable conditions which means to reproduce the natural wild environment. For this, turfy soil is used, if it is clayey, dilute it with sand or gravel. The optimal balance is considered to be sand, compost and clay soil.A dangerous moment is stagnant water, so do not forget about drainage.

The best time to plant is May, June and July. Ready seedlings are planted in a pre-prepared dug up soil without weeds. The hole should be quite spacious so as not to damage root system- it is important.

Watering bergenia

As for watering, there are two options: either fill the hole before planting, place the seedling, wait until the earth settles and sprinkle with peat and sawdust (next watering no earlier than 5 days later), or water after planting, and then as needed.

The fact is that in natural conditions, protection from drying out and excess water occurs due to last year's leaves. And in decorative conditions, they are removed every year, for aesthetic beauty. Therefore, the watering time is adjusted depending on the weather. You should also provide mulching around the bushes, which will contribute to uniform evaporation of moisture.

Fertilizer for bergenia

The plant will please the eye, every day, with healthy, green, shiny leaves and bright, rich, lush flowers, only if it is fertilized. Before flowering and after, mineral fertilizer is recommended for use.

If a bush is additionally fertilized a couple of weeks after flowering, this contributes to its growth and the change in leaf color to a more brown shade.

Growing bergenia from seeds

Badan has small black seeds about 1-2 mm. The first couple of years, the flowers are not strongly developed, their length reaches 25 mm in height. They need constant monitoring.

Closer to winter, seedlings are stopped with a substrate of clay soil, compost and sand, and covered with dried leaves, which are not cut off before winter, but cut off, making sure not to leave cuttings.

Seeds are planted in early spring in specially prepared boxes for seedlings and only a year later they are transplanted into flower beds.

Reproduction by cuttings

Healthy middle-aged shoots are selected (fourth or fifth season). An apical bud and a rosette should be present on this branch, and almost all the leaves are cut off.

Usually, rooting is observed after a few days, after which it is transplanted into the ground at a distance of about 40 cm, given that the growth does not go up, but in breadth. Caring for these seedlings is similar to regular planting.

Badan reproduction by division

A similar method is possible not earlier than after 4 years, waiting until it grows. New roots are located closer to the surface and are not so difficult to separate. Reproduction is carried out in May.

The separated root should have root buds and 2-3 leaves. Planted in holes 10-15 cm deep, at the same distance (40 cm). Then water abundantly.

Diseases and pests

Badan is resistant to diseases and pests (this is due to chemical composition), only if all the rules of care and feeding are observed, otherwise, one of the ailments is leaf damage. In this case, the bush does not bloom.

To prevent damage to the entire plant, immediately cut off the affected areas with secateurs and treat with antifungal agents.

Worms (nematodes) are considered dangerous pests. Here, even a transplant will not save, since nematode eggs can remain on the roots.

Badan medicinal properties and contraindications

useful and even healing properties has both a rhizome and a top. The composition contains: carbohydrates, manganese, honey, iron, tannins, arbutin, vitamins, resins, starch and more. Dried blanks are stored for no more than 4 years.

It has anti-inflammatory, disinfectant, healing and diuretic effect. The range of indications for use is very wide, but contraindications should be taken into account: it cannot be used with a tendency to form blood clots, chronic constipation and increased blood clotting.