The reds are emerging!

High 39F
Low  25 F

The walk in the garden the other day revealed some emerging and lasting burgundies and reds.  The first is our friend Kim's, over at A Study in Contrast, favorite.  Bergenia.   I love the sound of the word Ber-jean-ia and I like the plant but it is not as vigorous as those patches I see in the magazines of English gardens.  Mine is Bergenia cordifolia which is hardy to zone 3. Since it originates in Siberia my lack of total success with this plant must be a cultural issue.  I need to move some of these around to see if I can get a more vigorous plant. The foliage is green in summer but turns this burgundy red with the advent of cold and they stay this color until the soil and air warms. Next in the lineup of reds is the Heuchera  'Peach Melba'  which is one of those new ones with the orangey pink foliage.  This plant usually heaves out of the soil in February when the sun thaws the top layer of soil and then it re-freezes at night.  This year I mulched these with the Christmas tree boughs and they look pretty good.  These are here temporarily until the creeping junipers take over to provide a permanent ground cover.  They are pretty all the time.  I did save the best, (just one opinion), for last and that is the rhubarb.  Rhubarb is a garden staple for me.  The first sight of these ruby red knobs indicate that there is no stopping spring even if it snows again and temperatures drop.  This patch needed a bit of compost and fertilizer so after photographing I covered them up with this blanket of black gold.