just beautiful! do you grow yours in terrariums or a greenhouse? the plants you have are tricky ones, and i've only managed to grow them in closed environments here.

-ming

Thank you Ming!
Actually those plants which I photoed were planted in terrariums in my lab.
I also grow some specices likes rajah or bipinnatifida in open environments with high humidity and keeping shady and cool.
But it's still hard to grow them in summer when temperature up to 32 degree.

zeke

{{gwi:428887}}

what a coincidence...i grow lot of my begonias in my lab office, too. :) i figure why not use the free heat and electricity?

-ming

Where's the pictures?

Zeke,

Very nice collection. What are the first two? And the one in your second post? I really like your bipinnatifida. The color on it is very striking.

Butch

Dear Butch

Thank your attenction.
The fist two are Begonia verniscolor (China) and Begonia sp "Itatiaia" (Bazil).
And the one in second post is a spire of Begonia carolineifolia.

I love to observe the begonia spire, they are really attractive.

Zeke

Hi Zeke,

I guess the versicolor is still young and not showing its stripes yet? I haven't heard of "Itatiaia". It looks interesting. How big does it get?

I think I have carolineifolia although I had ordered thiemei. I cannot see much difference between the two going by the pictures you can find on the web.

Butch

butch,
i think that some of those stripes are dependent on light levels. i have begonias grown under fluorescents that don't show their greens and begonias grown in too dim a place that don't show much more than their greens.

soli-mutata, for instance, is named for its habit of changing in the sun...

-ming

ming,

granted you are right on light levels (i know that a plant in low light levels may not show a lot of variegation, but if you move it to stronger light then different colors and patterns may emerge that you could not see before) but looking at the pics above - they all seem to be starter plants. a lot of juvenile begonias especially in the rex line don't resemble the mature plant at all. a good example is 'fireworks'.

p.s. does all lower case letters bother you?

butch

lol. i never use upper case--except on job applications and when i'm emailing someone i'm sucking up too.

i agree with you on the starter plants.

speaking of colors, i've got a bloom picture coming up for you in the next week or so...

-ming

Hey Ming,

I had a guy at work who did everything in all caps. When I asked why he did this and that it looked like he was shouting, he switched to all lower case. That was annoying, especially with the small 'i' but at least it was better than all caps.

Oh well, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

Looking forward to your bloom picture. I'm debating on whether to post an experiment in bonsai. I've had a 'Black Coffee' in a small Solo cup that I started from a leaf about a year ago. It has a bunch of leaves and looks good despite its small living quarters. I need to take a picture of it compared to one in a 4 inch pot. It certainly takes up a lot less room.

Butch

Thank you! ming and Butch

The versicolor is not younger plant, I think.
I got it with a older rhizome and no leafs at Feb this year.
Actually, the versicolor distribute wildly at 1500-2500 altitude in China. It was very senstive with temperature and humidity.
In my environment, the temperature always 25-26 degree and it still too warm for the versicolor. So, it might be one reason for why the stripes is not very clear.
In Taiwan, there is a research group focusing to study the new begonia in China. They sugesst the versicolor should grow well under the high humidity and 22-23 degree in day time.

Zeke

Those are some beautiful Begonias!