Bergenia Bartok - Elephant's Ears

With its spring flowering in long clusters of bright pink of great freshness and its beautiful bright green foliage, the Bergenia 'Bartók', also known as Bergenia or Elephant's Ears, will form a large, evergreen carpet of brilliant burgundy red in winter. It changes colour as soon as the first frosts appear, and carries its large shiny leaves vertically, like large sails oriented towards the light, which allows them to be admired even better in the winter. This vigorous variety deserves its place in the garden, where it will form a hardy and carefree ground cover. Plant in dappled sun or partial shade, in ordinary soil, not too dry.

Bergenia 'Bartók' belongs to the Saxifragaceae family, it is an old hybrid of Bergenia cordifolia (1950), which originates from Siberia, in the Altai Mountains, and central Asia including northwest China. It will reach a height of 40cm (16in) and a width of 50cm (20in), with a fairly slow growth.
The 'Bartók' Bergenia is an evergreen perennial with a spreading and creeping habit, herbaceous, with vegetation gathered in tight clumps. It grows on a creeping, large, thick rhizome covered by the sheaths of the base of the leaves. Over time, this plant can cover a considerable surface, but its growth is so slow that it can hardly be considered as an invasive plant. Secondary stems appear here and there, eventually forming a large colony. The persistent, leathery leaves, 25cm (10in) wide, veined and wrinkled, basal in rosette, beautifully glossy, are dark green on top and carmine underneath. They turn wine red as soon as the first cold weather arrives. The bright pink to dark pink flowers, grouped in cymes on sturdy 40cm (16in) tall stems, appear in April-May.

It will thrive in most soils, but a rich and moist humus soil is preferable. Dry soils tend to limit growth. It will prosper in shade, partial shade or sunny but not scorching positions: dense shade should be avoided, where it does not flower, as well as strong sun exposure. Cold and poor soils enhance its colors. If you are looking for a sturdy perennial that will always be attractive, look no further than this bergenya. It can be advantageously used in rockeries as ground cover, or at the base of deciduous bushes that will let the winter sun through but protect it from its summer heat. It can be associated, to cover a slope, with perennial geraniums (Geranium macrorrhizum), primroses, and in the undergrowth with oriental Hellebores, hostas.