Pinch the growing points out to make a plant bushy.

If you truly have seed pods from Dragon Wings, then you may not have Dragon Wings as they are sterile. They bloom like crazy but I've never seen a seed pod on them. They are a cross between U014 and a wax begonia (creating a mule from a horse and a donkey is a good analogy).

So what would happen to these seeds that I've collected then?

Grantgarden2

Try them. If they grow then I'd say you have something different than Dragon Wings. If they don't; sprout then I'd say you have DW.

I will try to grow the seeds, does the seeds save well or should I plant them as soon as I can? If the seeds don't sprout, how does seed companies sell dragon wing seeds? Are the seeds from some special plant or how does that work?

Thanks!!

Grantgarden2

If you save begonia seed, put them in a refrigerator completely dried out and stored in an envelope (something to keep the moisture out). Some growers say they've planted seed as old as 3 years (and older) and have pretty good germination. Some seed will go bad after a few weeks though.

Fresh seed sown right away seems to be the best bet but it all depends on the plant's genes. Some begonias may be in colder areas and drop seed in fall so the seed needs a chill period to be ready to germinate in spring when it warms up. Most begonias are from the tropics though and some may delay germination waiting for a wet season.

The seed companies selling DW seeds have pollinated the two parents to get viable seed. I think I explained this earlier with the analogy of a horse and a donkey breeding which yields a mule - the mule is sterile. Same thing for some plants (something about chromosome count, etc.). That is why I think you may have some other begonia than DW. Some of the earlier crosses using U014 came off with names like Candy Cane and some other lesser names that didn't become mainstream (The ABS has some stories about using U014 but it may take a lot of searching to find the data).

It took the big seed companies to pour advertising and money into coming up with DW. A sterile
beautiful blooming begonia that can take full sun but produces no seed - win-win for most everybody.

Here is a reference to DW in the international database of begonias (not complete but one reference)

http://ibegonias.filemakerstudio.com.au/browserecord.php?-action=browse&-recid=1501&-recnum=1