There is nothing to do now but admire it, once in bloom they don't seem to care where they are placed. The stem of the blossom will grow and elongate, eventually when the flowering stops I have found you can re-pot if necessary, give it good light and it will bloom again in the summer. It differs from canes which need good light to bloom and from rhizomatous which haveto be carefully watered and many are not happy with strong light, there are too many differences with canes and rhiz. to explain here. The tuberous side of the Riegers doesn't seem to make them rest or go dormant and I've never found much of a tuber with them.b ut I do like to buy bloomed- out Riegers, marked down , take them home, and let them repeat as above described.

Heythere, thanks for the response. This thing looks like a wax Begonia on steroids. It's really cool. There's actually 3 plants in there, so I'll put them in 3 places around the yard. Can't wait to see which spot this plant likes best! Hopefully this kind will be as happy here as the cane, rhizomatous, and wax ones.

i wouldn't put it in the yard, at least not for summer months - it hates hot and humid.it's mostly an indoor bloomer. optimal is 60F min - 70F day. no direct sunlight - it'll burn the leaves, no cold, no damp;prone to mildew in humid conditions.

Well it sounds like I better enjoy it while it lasts, plenty of pics. Thanks for the info. Any plant that can't abide heat and humidity can't survive here. Live'n'learn, huh? I don't think staying inside would help, less air flow and we don't run the a/c much.

it's supposed to stay in bloom for many months, even 6 some people say. i had one last year, it bloomed indoors for 3 mo. i cut it down for rebloom, but it did not. it's pretty. i am planning to get another this year too. i think they go dormant in heat.

Purp, plants like that, and tulips, and other northern plants are sold to be grown as annuals. Chances are, yours won't last through the summer. I don't use a/c much, either, and that's one reason I won't buy a Reiger Begonia, though I've been seeing some gorgeous ones recently.

This is what happens to Fuchsias. Never had one live past June here. Maybe my Mom will have mercy on this pretty one. She keeps her house much cooler but doesn't like to have plants inside. Thank goodness I asked about this, if/when it starts looking poorly, I'll know it's too hot.

Thanks so much!!

This plant is dead already. It fell apart from some kind of fungus or mildew. First it defoliated, then the stems developed soft pink spots. It never had a chance to be overwhelmed by heat. This was pretty but I'll never buy one again.

mine are doing fine indoors. I just potted them up. I will try to rebloom them later, though I did not succeed last time. I think they were in a smaller pot. so now I am growing them bigger. they are still much smaller then yours was.

Those look fantastic! A nice come-back from my bummer entry.

Usually by now, we've already been flirting with 100 degrees, but it's barely got near 90 a few random days so far. Tons of unusually cloudy, much cooler days. We've only needed to turn on the A/C at night a few times so far, so coming inside, at least here, wouldn't have helped mine. I don't deny that it might help for those who keep their house much cooler.

I think it may have been diseased when I got it. Before taking the pic at the top of this thread, I had trimmed off crispy-edged leaves. A lesson of recognizing being in denial, seeing only the healthy leaves and flowers. It's also possible that it didn't appreciate my rough handling/removing the old soil during repotting, and/or that the soil mix had something in it that made the plant sick. I mix/keep potting soil in a baby pool outside, so organic activity is to be expected. Usually that's positive, but occasionally there are some detriments.

If my failure (and the great advice about these plants given here!) helps anyone, that's a great tribute to this dear, departed plant, and just generally good. I ain't too proud to say when I've killed a plant.

Thanks for the pretty pic!! Very seductive, that yellow is especially pretty to me, a great shade.

so, this time I managed to regrow mine after blooming. I did not trim them low at once this time, but slowly a few leaves at a time. I also left some last single flowers on very long stems going with an idea that this will prevent plant from going dormant on me.
so now they are quite big, I uppotted to nursery pots 2 weeks ago (with Styrofoam pebbles in the bottom - so it's not too deep). I see flower buds starting.

This post was edited by petrushka on Sun, Sep 8, 13 at 13:03

about 2 weeks ago i put my 2 plants into a western window to get a few hours of sun and been giving them orchid fert with hi P.
i got pretty nice flower buds going. will flower soon!

Very nice, Petrushka! So much promise in those buds!

Yes! Keep us posted, well done!

so today i was at bronx bot gardens and in the shop saw this gorgeous red begonias - i recognized as rieger . synonym 'rhine begonia/winter begonia/christmas begonia'. it was double red - very pretty, if only ...but i didn't... i just can't ...it was in bloom too!
so i tracked it down - barkos is the name. if i can find it next spring, i'll get it!
it's in the 2nd row in the link. check out 'borias' in 4th row - wow! it's like a rose!

Here is a link that might be useful: barkos rieger begonia pic - 2nd row