Absolutely gorgeous Sierra! What's the name of yours and do you overwinter your Begonias too?

I only have the regular Nonstop Golden Orange that is overwintering right now, I'll be bringing it out March 1st.

I would like to get some double pendulas this year if I can find them in the nurseries.

Sharon

Hi Sharon,

Those begonias are worthiana red. They were quite small when I bought them in 2003. They more than doubled in size that summer.

I have a few different kinds....that I have had for years.....The others have gotten so big...that I had to cut the tuber......so ended up with several of each. They are the more up-right type with larger flowers...don't know what they are called...and don't seem to have them listed in my records.

Yes from what I said above...they over winter quite easily. I just cut the plants down about an inch or or so from the tuber around the first week of Sept....around the first frost. Pull them out of the planters and let them dry for a short bit.....then pack them in paper bags and store in the basement. They start growing very early so I open the bags and try to make sure they are sitting facing up....or the pink eyes stems will be all over the place.....They get potted up when I get around to it.

Sierra

Sierra, where are you finding the scented begonias? For MANY years now I've REALLY ENJOYED the Pink Scentiment hanging begonia! The scent is hard to describe, though it's rather like a combination of ripe nectarine and lemon, very NICE! I had also grown the Apricot variety, though the fragrance was not overly pleasing with being more like cedar. Mine are grown in a solarium that does not get overly hot, otherwise the plants would burn. One hanging basket fills the enclosed space with the delicious fragrance! Think I had gotten the bulbs from Cruickshanks, before they had closed their mail order business.

Terry

Hi Terry,

I saw the scentiment Apricot in the Botanus catalogue.

Here are a couple more begonias that I have had for a few years....not scented.

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Sierra

Sierra the pink one looks like it's "scratch n sniff" LOL. Nice pics. I used to grow begonias but kept forgetting to bring them in for the winter - so now I have no more. Funny Terry should mention Cruikshanks, I ordered two begonias and an expensive collection of glads from there in their last year, when they were bought by some internet conglomerate called Indigo. The glads were full of thrips and one of the begonias was dead. Guess that's why they disappeared a couple of months later.

Hahaha...I just found a new button on my computer....the scratch and sniff button...haha Unfortunately these begonias are not scented.

Gillian before you plant glad bulbs.....dip them in a solution of 1 part bleach and 10 parts warm water.....I think I got this tip from a Ken Beatie show a few years ago. I have done this every spring since and haven't seen any thripes on the glads since. That order must have been so disappointing! :-(

Soooooooo I went to the local nursery yesterday and they have the begonias in.......I am disappointed to say.....no daffodil types and no scented ones either. :-(
However....I bought
two Giant Pendula begonia tubers Pink
two Fimbriata begonia tubers Red.

These tubers are sooooooo small compared with the ones I have had for a while.....I forgot how small they were when I first bought them. LOL!

Sierra

Oh oh oh I love the fimbratas... you are gonna make me buy begonias again aren't you. LOL. That's what the one that arrived alive was, a yellow fimbrata. It was so nice until I murdered it. I'm gonna have a new shade bed this year thanks to my new fence... that is a reason to stock up on begonias isn't it?

Yeah I know about treating the glad bulbs now, unfortunately the attack of thrips was so bad it actually killed them all. I haven't had the heart to buy glads again.

Oh BTW, do you (anyone) know if begonias are possible to grow from seed economically? I found seeds somewhere... I think it was Stokes... but they were SO expensive! I'm interested in sorta no-name bedding plant type ones - either fibrous or tuberous. I've never noticed begonia seeds anywhere else.

northspruce, tuberous begonias are very SLOW to start from seed and must be planted in early February or so. BUT, once they finally take off they grow and develop FAST! I was quite impressed with the large first year plants that had come forth!

Thanks for the info Terry, perhaps I will get some going next winter... I seem to have a lot on my plate all of a sudden! Thanks to everyone's enabling :-)

Hee hee NS of course you will want more begonias...they are sooooo pretty after all.....and what could be more colorful for a shady area. That is where I have them too along the fence that was build last year.

I actually had them on the north side of the house for several years in deep shade and they grew and bloomed.....but last year they did get brighter shade and more morning sun and did a lot better.

OHHHHH and btw if at first you don't succeed try TRY again. Thats what I do.....You know you wanna try glads and begonias again....hee hee

I was reading on The Canadian Begonia Society's website last night.....lots of good info there!

As for seeds....I wouldn't be bothered with the tuberous types....its just easier to buy the tubers and saves time. As for the fiberous begonias.....I was going to try them a few years ago...and for some reason didn't. I wonder if you could just buy a plant and take cutting. Hmmmmm.

Sierra

Yeah the fibrous ones are great for cuttings. I had one many years ago (a "wax begonia", I'm pretty sure that's the same thing) I saved in the fall and it was a great houseplant, bloomed all winter in the window. They aren't much of a centrepiece but make a good bedding plant for shade. Especially since I'm not that fond of impatiens. Except the reeeeeely expensive New Guinea ones, but who could afford a whole bed of those? Now I'm way off topic...

I read in my Garden Gate where you can take a leaf from a begonia (tuberous), slice the main veins, add root powder, and place it in a seedling pot, veins down. After a few weeks with seedling type care, it grew tubers right through the leaf.

I love begonias. I have too much shade in my yard to do roses properly, and some begonias have such beautiful blooms they look like roses. They also need much less watering than impatients, so they can handle the July droughts much better. I usually just buy a couple every year and treat them like annuals, but maybe next winter, I will overwinter them with my English Ivy and my Coleus. It will be like a tropical garden in my front window all winter.

Will have to find a fibrous begonia and try cuttings....I don't think I have even tried growing them ever. That is just sooooo weird. LOL!

Yes you can take leaf cuttings of the tuberous ones....I did know about that.

I tried the New Guinea ones last year from seed...I think I ended up with only 2 plants.....and uhhhhh don't remember seeing them after they were planted out...hmmmm

Sierra

Hmmmmmm When I checked the "new" begonia tubers yesterday to see it they had pink buds yet....one of them was feeling soft. I am debating whether to take that one back and see if they will trade it. I just left them in the paper bags on the shelf so far, but it still shouldn't have gone soft that fast. Weird. In the store they just leave them sit in the boxes.....The ones that I have had for years haven't done this!

Sierra

Great topic. I had an orange pendula begonia that I bought at the nursery and it really did good in a hanging basket with 3 hours of sun, the rest shade. It's one of those plants I take for granted I guess but it bloomed all season (of course, I fertilized alot too). It's nice when you can overwinter the bulbs because not only do you save money, but you can start them indoors early as well.

I see that T&T Seeds is selling seed for a dragon wing type (fibrous) pink begonia as well as a tuberous begonia.

I took the plunge and placed an order for tuberous begonia's called 'sugardips'. They look pretty much like your standard double begonia but some of the petals have a whitish edge to them.

Glen

I checked my begonia tubers a couple days ago..bad news....looks like I will be buying more then the 4 I picked up the other day :-(...savona

Glen, The sugardips are pretty. I considered them as well. Keep us posted as to how they do for you.

Ahh savona, thats sad...has to be disappointing for you. They are expensive little buggers if you have to replace them every year. You already picked up 4 new ones though.....I have to ask haha....which ones did you get? They had some pretty ones didn't they!

Sierra

Darn you Sierra you made me do it! I got two hanging begonias, the pic looks like your first one but the flowers are yellow-orange picotee. When should I plant them? Now?

Hi NS, hee hee my bad!

You can start them now....I won't be starting mine for a while yet. Do yours have pink bugs...errr buds yet? If not they can be kept in the dark till they do...then you can plant them....I leave the top of the tubers sticking out of the soil.....some like to bury them. I have found by leaving the tops out of the soil...it stops the water from pooling in the indent ......if water sits there they may rot.

The planter up above had several tubers in it. One in the middle and 5 or 6 evenly spaced around the edge. Just wanted to make sure no one thought that was just one.

So are ya goin' to try glads again too....hee hee...shhhh I didn't say that! Hey you can't kick me you are to far away hee hee

Sierra dashing off now...:-)

Ok I will forgive you... but I'm not getting any more glads for now. For now, listen to me waver! LOL. Actually I always had good success with begonias until I murdered them. They like my front step. I do recall not to water straight onto the tuber as it is cupped. The tubers I got have teeny tiny pink bugs (hee hee) just enough to know they're alive... so I guess I will hold off until they sprout more.

I planted up the 4 new begonias for this year, that I bought a while ago. Well I planted 3 and had to take one back for an exchange. It had a hole right though the middle of the tuber. I ended up with a peachy, maybe orange one in the exchange because the pink box only had one tiny sad looking tuber left. So now the peachy one is potted up too. This one had a nice little pink bug/bud on it so I know its ok. I haven't planted up the bigger over wintering tubers yet.

Sierra

Well...I was at Superstore last week and found what I think it a good deal on begonia bulbs.......They were packaged like they package the amarylis...in a large box with a bag of dirt and a plastic pot and 3 bulbs......for only 5.99. They had several colors, these are the up-right type of begonias.

I searched through I think it was 3 boxes and found one with 3 bulbs that looked good......two already had tiny pink buds..and the other one I couldn't tell. These are a bit bigger than the ones I bought at the nursery.

I potted them in 4 inch pots.....they will go into planters in June....the pot that they came with will be to small to use for them.

An update on my above post......those 4 now have leaves and have really started to take off.

Sierra