Bergenia Ballawley is among these hardy perennials. Gardener's Encyclopedia

I am one of those who has a good word - or several - for bergenia, but you will be hard-pressed to find many gardeners who grow this plant. The bergenia has become a target of ridicule.

I recall several years ago a gardening friend who liked bergenia and used it effectively in her borders; her neighbor told her that it reminded her of slices of liver standing upright.

The bergenia's bad name mystifies me; after all, Gertrude Jekyll - the Queen of the Herbaceous Border - praised it highly and used the plant to great advantage.

I like bergenia because:

• Over stout rhizomes, the bergenia forms a dense, spreading clump (but not invasively so) of handsome, shiny evergreen leaves shaped like round spoons, paddles or small skillets.

• Out of these leaves rise sturdy stems in late winter of saxifrage flowers in pink, white or purple that add diversity to the bulbous spring show.

WHERE TO FIND IT

Garden centers in spring Mail order: Shady Oaks Nursery, Waseca, MN. Catalog: (800) 504-8006. Andre Viette Farm & Nursery, Fishersville, VA. Catalog: (800) 575-5538.

• It is drought-tolerant but will grow in damp soil (not standing water).

• Leaves turn a lovely bronze-red in cold winters.

Bergenia cordifolia and Bergenia crassifolia are the original varieties brought from Siberia in 1779. Today we have several good hybrids, offering shades of pink to magenta flowers with more reliable winter-foliage color.

Two German hybrids are excellent. One is B. "Abendglut," meaning "evening glow." This bergenia is deeply colored, a magenta-purple, and the leaves take on a bronze-beet color in the winter. The other variety is called "Morgenrote" ("morning blush") and is similar to "Abendglut" but with truer pink flowers.

If you prefer white, try "Bressingham White," a robust grower but lacking the rough constitution of the pinks and purples.

Bergenias are a beautiful addition to a rock garden - especially one that relies on color in the winter and texture in the summer. Clumps of bergenia along a hosta border also are effective as a foliage contrast. A bed of pink hellebores would be enhanced with a few clumps of red or white bergenia.

The bergenia's loss of popularity over the years was the result of the gardener, not the plant. It was overused and became a panacea for every nook and corner of the garden. It should come back and be used with some ingenuity and an open mind.

Contact Tim Morehouse by Web site: www.getmoregarden.com; mail: c/o Cincinnati Enquirer. (If writing, enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope.)