Get the green plastic coated hollow steel tubes or bamboo stakes at HD in various lengths (2 feet to 8 feet if I remember correctly) at Home Depot, Lowe's, or Walmart in the outdoor section. You can get twine, stretchy tape, or other wrapping materials in the same location. If you need very sturdy or longer lengths, consider rebar but then you will need one hefty pot if your plant is in a container.

I preferred the vinyl coated steel stakes over bamboo because bamboo can and will rot, mold, and while it can be cut you have to take in the distances between the nodes.

If you have to move your plants back indoors for winter - they can be a hassle because they are not flexible and can poke your eye out if not careful. I had staked dozens of my canes over a couple of years but eventually removed each and every stake the last year or two. I may stake them again if they need it but for now, I'm not putting up with them. I have staked lilies and small shrubs with them - works quite well.

Here is an example at Home Depot

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Gardener-s-Blue-Ribbon-6-ft-Heavy-Duty-Plastic-Coated-Steel-Sturdy-Stake-ST6/100619190

I am just begging for a picture of this tall begonia. Wow

Laurie,

Me too! I've seen some tall canes trained over an arch, topiary, and other art forms but the best I've seen are ones grown for a show - full and robust from 3 feet to maybe 5 feet - tops. Will post photos later of some of these show plants.

And here is some of the staking on Lucerna to show how tight Doug did his show plants.

and zoom in a little closer

PS the conventions have notorious lighting in the show room itself - at least the cameras are getting better through the years.

Those are incredible. Any guesses on approximate ages of any one of those amazing examples of perfection. They are all just flawless. What an unbelievable feat. Thank you so much for sharing hc. I really enjoyed each and every picture. I have a Lucerna that is new from cuttings. Just today I was thinking it was starting to look ok. Ahem, not any more. To travel with those plants and their delicate leaves and brittle branches, oh the commitment of this sort of hobby blows my mind. The pruning skill, to end with a begonia shaped like the Looking glass. WOW.

What I heard about Doug is he starts these from cuttings and places them around his screened in pool in south FL. I think I heard most are a year to two years old and were sold at the convention - some as little $26 to some $100 (or more?)

So the solution is to move to south FL and buy a house with a screened in pool? Just kidding... I've let some of my canes grow to five feet but will never look as good as someone who can grow outdoors year round (unless I had a greenhouse with ample room).

Sometimes the easiest thing to do is just plant a bunch of canes in the same pot and let them sort it out. Here are a couple of my own mixed pots (15" or bigger)

Here is my five footer (kind of sparse looking) in deep shade but still bloomed quite well.

Its blooms are white

They are all so beautiful but I'd have to say that I like the bottom on the best. It has a unique look to it. Beyond the strange stretch of the photo ;)

I can't wait to be able to grow beauties like I've seen here. And I WILL...

The last one was shot from the top of the deck. Optics can give us some strange results at times.

i noticed that all caned begonias from the convention are very large compared to the pot size. how often are they watered? granted, humidity is very high in FL and they grow orchids just stuck in slat baskets with roots bare, no medium at all. so perhaps you can get away with such small pots for canes?

but what about overwintering them indoors? i suppose they need much less water in winter - so the small pots might actually help to keep them on the drier side?

Begonias also propagate really easily. You can just cut them and stick those cuttings right back in the soil.