Elephant's Ears

A combination of circumstances - the wetness, my trip to Athens, returning with a respiratory bug have all conspired to keep me away from the greenhouse. However today, during a spell of sunshine I popped out to see how things were doing. Before I reached the greenhouse I was taken aback to see the bergenia plants were producing their wonder clusters of pink flowers on their little 'rhubarb stalk' stems.

Bergenia, or elephant-eared saxifrage, is native to central Asia, but miraculously it thrives well in this damp, dark border and its pink cone-shaped flowers bloom cheerfully. But it is its large leathery leaves with their saw-toothed edges that for most of the year provide great ground cover. I chose this shot which shows off the jagged elephant ear leaves plus the profusion of flowers. The genus name honoured the German botanist Karl August von Bergen - hence bergenia! I don't suppose a lot of people know that!