River Nile has to be one of the toughest I've seen when it comes to neglect and it is a beauty too. PHOE's Cleo can be a bit temperamental in the spirng when it tends to drop all its leaves but has always come back and made a statement. If you like large, Esperanza is a beauty I picked up this year and grows like gangbusters.

Some big excellent canes with no real muss are Irene Nuss, Silvermist, and Sophie Cecile. Lucerna is an oldie but seems to be at its best in summer. Watch out for the thin leafed ones since they are mildew prone - examples are Looking Glass, Sinbad, Pink Minx, Maurice Amey, Don Miller, and many others. They are beauties in the summer garden but a pain in winter.

Don't exclude rexes - some are hard to beat for their flashy leaves but for best results they should be grown indoors year round to prevent mildew problems.

Thanks for the suggestions! I like the looks of some of the rexes that I see, but they seem to be absolutely intolerant of lower humidity and less-than-perfect conditions. I try to maintain my winter humidity at about 40-45%, but from what I have read this may be too low for happy rexes. Do you still think I should consider them?

I will look up 'River Nile' and 'PHOE's Cleo'. Does PHOE stand for Paul Hammock Orchid Estate?

If you grow rex indoors they will adapt and you can let wilting be an indicator on when to water. I have many rexes in the basement where they look fairly ragged after moving them indoors for winter. I have 'Pink Diamonds' in a big aquarium and they look great. I also have 'Purple Curl' in the kitchen area in "normal air" and it is looking very nice. The nice thing about growing indoors is they aren't exposed to the mildew spores like they would be grown outdoors (not saying that mildew isn't present indoors - just less, a lot less).

Yes, PHOE is Palm (not Paul) Hammock Orchid Estates. A great place to visit for begonia enthusiasts.

There are lots of begonias for the home but I'm thinking medium size, hardly any fuss, and be pleasant to look at too.

Here is River Nile under different growing conditions:

Outdoors next to a nice cane (Mary Ann Flunker?)

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Indoors:
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One more view:
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Purple Curl outdoors last fall:
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Indoors this year (where it has been since last fall):
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Its blooms:
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Easy to start from leaf cuttings:
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PHOE's Cleo indoors: (it will probably defoliate in early spring or late winter but if you don't panic and overwater it causing rot, it will send out new leaves in a few weeks)
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Close up of leaf:
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Outdoors:
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Here it is in the bottom of this picture:
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WOW! Such beautiful pictures! I am inspired!

I have 3 rex in a sunny bathroom window and they are doing fine. I put them there more because they matched the wallpaper perfectly than because they needed the humidity, LOL. That said, it is slightly more humid than the rest of the house and is the room where I move most of my deck plants into for the winter.

However (not to hijack, just wondering), mine are not bushy, like yours, hcmcdole. They are a lot like your Purple Curl, large leaved and metallic looking. But each plant has only 2 stems with 1 or 2 or 3 leaves on the end, which is pretty much what they had when I bought them maybe 3 years ago. Which is really odd looking considering how long the leaf stems are, and the long "column" of old stem rising from the pot. How do you induce them to branch out? Or is the answer to make new plants and pot a group up together? Is that plain perlite you have your babies started in? Thanks!

Thank you so much for your replies and photos. 'River Nile' looks so quietly beautiful and elegant, and 'PHOE's Cleo' is spectacular. I am most definitely sold on 'River Nile' and will probably purchase one, but I am not sure if I want to deal with dormancy periods right now so I may hold off on 'PHOE's Cleo' until I gain more experience.

I have spent the past couple of days looking up pics on the web of various begonia cultivars. I seem to be drawn most to the basic rhizomatous types. Here are the ones I like the most (in pictures at least), in no particular order:

'Cowardly Lion'
'Aquamarine'
'Sakai'
'Midnight Twist'
'Black Coffee'
'Marmaduke' and its sport 'Snoopy'
'Small Change'
'Boy Friend'
'Black Raspberry'
'Shamus'

Have you grown any of these and/or can you tell me anything about them? 'Aquamarine', for example, looks lovely in pictures but I cannot find any information about how hard/easy it is to grow. 'Marmaduke' is one that I think looks downright ugly and awkward in almost every photo I have seen of it, but I saw a mature specimen in person this past spring at a flower show and it was stunning.

I do like the rexes, too. Especially the ones with more subdued, silvery foliage (blasphemy, I know). 'Fireflush' (not the curly one) is also a beauty and I love the fuzzy look to it. Can you recommend any really, really, really tough ones that will grow like gangbusters and thrive in a centrally heated home?

Thanks again for your photos and advice. It seems like as a group rhizomatous begonias might be more challenging than I had thought. Several years ago I grew the trailing-scandent Begonia solananthera (from Logee's) and it grew just fine for me, though it invariably ended each winter with unsightly brown, crispy edges on the leaves and defoliated lower stems, probably due to lack of humidity. The end of winter was also its main flowering season for me, so I eventually got fed up with having the blossoms detracted from by the ugly winter foliage and decided to toss it. To be honest, I haven't really missed it since it had very little of the elegance and charm of the old beefsteak.

'Wild Pony' looks beautiful. Problem is, I can't seem to find a source for it. Any suggestions? Palm Hammock Orchid Estate (thanks for the correction, by the way...:-) lists it on their website, but am I correct in thinking they do not do mail order?

Judging from what you are telling me, maybe 'PHOE's Cleo' would be a good choice for me after all? I mean, it has a dormancy period and all, but at least it wouldn't mysteriously kick the bucket like 'Marmaduke' or 'Midnight Twist'?

Do you grow a lot of shrub begonias? I am now wondering if 'San Miguel', 'Caravan', 'Ginny', 'Art Hodes', 'Concord' or others might be more reliable than some of the rhizomatous cultivars.

I am having so much fun looking at pictures and trying to decide. Thank you again for your help.

Sorry to hear you tossed solananthera. I would've probably whacked it back, started some of the better cuttings and given them away but if you don't like a plant then I have no problem composting it (I got rid of a giant white bird of paradise 2 years ago and a Norfolk Island Pine this year plus 100's of cacti and succulents last winter although I wish I had kept those but ran out of time, space, and energy).

I got my 'Wild Pony' at a local nursery chain so if you can't find it locally and really want to try it, then mail order is about the only option left. PHOE does do mail order but getting someone to take your order might be akin to pulling teeth. Brush up on your Spanish (just kidding - the phone operators speak some English). If you can visit PHOE then you will be in for a treat but you will have a hard time picking out a cart or two from the hundreds they have to offer. Their mail order is (was the 2 or 3 times I ordered from them a few years ago) a trying experience though. I hope they've improved in that area.

PHOE's Cleo is a great plant but do not despair if it defoliates in spring. I've had it for 3 years now and it must be just its way of dealing with winter blues? To be fair on Marmaduke it may have been something I did wrong but it is a beautiful plant to have. I would buy it again even though every one has eventually kicked the bucket on me. This time I would propagate it several times so I could hopefully keep one.

I have grown 'San Miguel' from Logee's twice and lost it twice. It is very large, fuzzy, and succulent. Grows great in summer but it just collapses indoors from who knows what - dimmer light, too much water, not enough water, etc. I have venosa that might be a parent and it seems to be doing pretty good (second winter with fingers crossed). 'Caravan' is a lovely plant and I have mine blooming downstairs. I lost the plant I bought off eBay but not before I propagated part of it. It like a lot of begonias seems to like more humidity and a smaller pot - I have it in a small cup with straight perlite and I can water heavily with no dire effects. 'Ginny' was another touchy one for me but after the nth time I finally have one growing very well. I moved it to a bigger pot this fall and it is growing like a weed. 'Art Hodes' is up and down but maybe I put it in too large a pot. So now I have several starts from the mother plant in much smaller pots and I hope to let you know how they do in coming months. 'Concord' was another loser for me when I bought it on line a couple of times but then last summer I bought it (or a close cousin) from Home Depot in 8 inch pots. I bought two pots of it for a bit of insurance. It got through the winter okay and then grew to a large spread over summer. I just whacked one of the pots back to a few inches and left the other one alone. I got two trays of cuttings from the one pot.

Here are some pictures of most you just listed:

Art Hodes is nice when it is happy:

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I propgated two cuttings of it last winter (you can also start it by leaf)

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But Morocco might be better since it grows faster and looks very similar (I have many cuttings off this plant)

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That is peltata to the right of Morocco and Selph's Mahogany to the left.

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Concord cut and uncut

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Concord and peltata (peltata is a nice weedy shrub - grows like a weed)

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Caravan

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Mother plant at Harmony Foliage in Florida

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Ginny

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San Miguel

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Thanks for the help, hcmcdole. Im going to try to grow some more from leaf cuttings to make each pot fuller. When there are only 2 leaves IÂm a little afraid to pinch. Can I do this now or should I wait until spring? Use the whole stem stuck in the soil/perlite or cut it back?

Good luck to you, ispahan! Hope you will get some beauties!

linnea,

Two leaves are not much to work with but here are your options the way I see it (without seeing how the plant looks). The leaves will probably fall off sooner or later so if they still look healthy it might be a good time to put them to use.

Your options:

1) leave it alone and hope it starts growing (I do this with some rexes since I don't want to bother with making more)

2) cut the whole top out and propagate it

3) cut the leaves off and propagate them and perhaps cut the stem and propagate it as well

If you do cut the top or leaves off, your rooted stump should (should being the operative word) throw out new growth. Make sure your pot is proportional to your plant and provide with a humidity cover to give your stump and cuttings an optimal growing environment. Lots of bright light will help as well.

Once again, thank you for sharing your advice and photos. This is turning into a really helpful thread.

Now I am curious about 'Morocco' and Begonia peltata. Would you consider both of them to be tough, easy growers? They look wonderful in your photos.

B. 'Morocco' and B. peltata are both easy to grow but are bigger plants. Once they get up to a 12 inch bowl (or bigger) you will have your hands full with cuttings to give away. I also have valida, 'Red Umbo', 'Caribbean King', 'Caribbean Queen', 'Boomer', and several more that are large growers. If you have space consider 'Paul Hernandez'. Mine is in an 18 inch pot and after one summer of growing it is over 3 foot tall and has spread to fill the pot. I wonder what it will look like next year.

Here are some others: U508 (grey large leaves), phutoensis, crassicaulis (slow grower for me), 'Hee Haw', 'Suncana' (very easy), 'Raven', and 'Challenger' (very, very large leaves).

I keep finding more and more photos of beautiful begonia eye candy on the web. Have you ever grown 'Passing Storm' or 'Mirage'? What about 'Selover' (or 'Sealover', not sure which spelling is correct in this case)?

I think you would like 'Passing Storm' and 'Mirage'. I have both and they are both easy to grow although 'Passing Storm' seems very thirsty (maybe my medium is too fast draining). I had 'Selover' or 'Sealover' from Accents for Home and Garden and either Kartuz or Antonelli. I repotted both in a fast draining mix last winter and lost both. It is a small leaf cane or shrub and is okay. Perhaps echinosepala or echinosepala var. 'elongatilfolia' would be another choice.

Passing Storm

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Mirage

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Sealover or Selover (there is a story about it on the Y*h** Begonia Group and its name - it was named after a hybridizer's wife's maiden name and should be Selover?)

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Really trying to get into the Rex and some of the other Begonias - have them in a plant room where I had lost a few to the dry winter conditions -- added a small vaporizer after a trip to Rex Begonias in Apopka where I purchased almost two dozen Rexs - so far the new ones are doing beautifully with the addition of the vaporizer - I have been running it between three and four hours a day.

Lost my wild pony and bandit early in the winter - trying
to find them - any input, the nursery in Apopka only deals in the Rex and a few strawberry begonias -