Yes, tuberous. Probably has boliviensis in its genetic makeup. The breeders continue to come out with new varieties of this every year or so it seems.

Here is a similar one called 'Sparks Will Fly'

It's been my experience, that the boliviensis hybrids are easier than the std old fashioned tuberous. I've had one for two years now, and it gets bigger and better, rather than succumbing to heat exhaustion and rotting.

hc mcdole and dbarron..good to know..will do my best to save it..if either of you have time can you tell me about your method?..I intend to read about it too..

Grow like any other plant...nothing special. When weather heads toward freezing move it in. When it starts going dormant, let it. Water seldom, but occassionally. When it starts to grow again (about February for me), put it in a sunny window.

dbarron..sounds easy..thanks

I usually grow them as annuals. I had 2 or 3 last year that I let go dormant but they never "woke up" this spring so I tossed them on the compost heap. I noticed a begonia growing out on the heap recently but haven't taken the time to dig it out. If it flowers it will confirm that it indeed is what I think it is.

Here is a big basket I bought at Sam's Club back in May for less than $7. Depending on how it looks at the end of the season I may take it indoors or just toss it on the heap. I hope Sam's would do this every year with different color blooms and stop putting them in the full sun of their parking lot. This was the best looking one of the lot as most were sun-burned on the other side of the fruit trees.

hc mcdole..I get what you're saying..that's why I asked "is it worth the trouble?"..I like this begonia so much that I'm going to try and keep it..if I can just bring the pot in and move it out next summer that's simple enough..your begonia is very pretty..I think of annuals as a splurge..they make the summer more joyful and it's worth the money (to me) to buy fresh lush bigger plants..

Well, I don't throw much away casually and they only get better as the tubers get larger. I've seen straight bolivensis in a greenhouse that are about half size of a dinner plate. You can imagine the vigorous growth they throw.

I don't know if it is worth the trouble. The thing I do know is they are readily available and not that costly to buy every spring. I would say try saving it to see what it takes to make it a go.

I have tried propagating these types with very little luck yet we know the growers propagate them by the millions or at least hundreds of thousands. I've seen one tuber the size of a dinner plate from a guy in CA where the weather is more amenable to tuberous types in general. He eventually lost that huge tuber a year or two ago probably from rot or the very unusual high temps they had one summer.

Most of our begonia club members do not grow tuberous types in Atlanta due to our summer temps and high humidity but I always pick up a few each year just to try a new variety.

If it came down to ease of growing from tubers, I'd say go with Caladiums or even gingers as they go dormant and come back each year. I place all my pots of caladiums on the tops of my shelves for winter (never water) and take them down in March to see if they are starting to sprout. If they are then I take them down and start watering. Within weeks I have a big beautiful plant for summer. Same thing for my Globba and Curcuma gingers I bought in recent years.

Consider other types of begonias that will continue to grow somewhat in winter as well and always flourish in the great outdoors in summer.

Actually my begonia went dormant about Nov last year (no frost till Dec 10th last year), and woke up in Feb or March. Basically a perfect house plant, only requiring a month of growing before going outside for the summer.

But whatever floats your boat :)

I also propagated a cutting of it easily last year....a stem got broken, and it rooted easily...flowering in only a few weeks after rooting.

hc mcdole..in the last week I've bought 2 caladiums, a curcuma, 2 bananas and 2 elephant ears..in the first pic you can see a caladium I've had for 2 yrs..is my cordyline (new this summer..in the urn at the top of the first pic) the same as yours?..should I overwinter?..put in a pot and bring in like a caladium?..I put a post in tropical plants with pics of my new caladiums..can't repost pics here my phone is charging..I've had some fancy leaf begonias but composted them when they turned scraggly..I love your red caladiums..keeping my eyes open for some..

dbarron..yours isn't dormant long..mine will be out of commission longer but it pays to be patient when gardening right?..I also have the mindset that not everything is disposable ( like most people today)..but I want to work with plants that have the ability to come back beautifully and not be a shadow of their former self..can't help it I'm a perfectionist sigh..

Well as to coming back as perfection, that depends much on your skill as a grower...work for it...strive ;)

I'm pleased with my white caladiums!..sometimes bargain plants look better in season 2 which is rewarding!

Dbarron,

Please share what you do with your tuberous begonia cuttings. I knew a grower in our club (but he had use of a greenhouse in his job) could start a tiny stem and get a small tater out of each one. Unfortunately he retired and is no longer in communication with our club. He made things look so easy.

Nichols,

I cannot tell if your cordyline is the same as mine. Mine limp through the winter in a dim light situation in the basement. I also think they get spider mites and elephant ears are notorious for spider mites in winter (you can let them go dormant if they are alocasia but colocasia I think you may want to keep them from completely drying out). Definitely bring your cordyline (Hawaiian Ti plant) inside for winter. Banana trees can be trimmed back to the culm and allowed to dry out over winter - I did that this past winter as the mother plant usually dies anyway so I saved myself some grief this past winter. Last year (and this year) I dropped the culms on top of the ground instead of digging a proper hole. They didn't get as big as normal but then I think water and sun has something to do with that as well.

My elephant ears were dug up from the huge pots I keep them in, thrown into a trug (I would recommend keeping them apart if different as some need a little moisture while others can dry out completely).

#1 left side of ee "grove"..#2 right side of ee "grove"..#3 banana and canna overwintering in the ground..covered with garbage bags filled with oak leaves..#4 unfinished tropical side yard..ee's out of focus at the top left of pic..one new banana is planted..when fall comes will be digging up ees..covering bananas and cannas..bringing in begonia, caladiums, curcuma and cordyline..I can give my cordyline some light..or should I store it with the other stuff in a dark spot?..

Give your cordyline some light. When I said dim I meant it is not directly under a shop light but to the side of a shelf where it gets what light it can gather.

I like your tropical plants. How long have you been leaving bananas and cannas in the ground over winter? I would've thought Indianapolis would've been too cold for them. I do leave my cannas in the ground but I cannot grow Tropicana for some reason yet I gave my mother some years ago and hers are doing just fine (she is 180 miles north of me. My bananas are almost a weed but I bring them inside for winter because I lost a couple years ago when I left them outside. Here is what happens when I put them in the ground (this was 2015) This was about 15 feet tall. I started with a gift plant years before and they keep multiplying each year and I kept dividing them so in 2015 I planted six different places).

taking a break and saw your comments..hc mcdole..just started overwintering outside..banana was a gift from my neighbor..planted it and 3 cannas last summer..covered everything last winter..the dark leaf canna didn't make it..saw a tip but it died..never dug it up..still down there and hasn't appeared..a goner..to me your bananas are not like mine..yours have more color..my neighbor has one in a pot that goes in that resembles yours..my plants are out of the wind on the east side of my garage..the mildest spot in my yard..it's NOT common to see them here..the type I have are the hardiest ones I believe..should be able to find a good spot for the cordyline..time to buy a nice pot for it to live in..should've thought about overwintering before I put it in a concrete urn..pic of my neighbor's bananas last fall..

dbarron..you work a lot harder at propagation than I do!..I can't seem to catch up..can't stop buying plants..

dbarron,

That is what I do - maybe my potting mix is too much peat in it. I will try pure perlite the next time. Leaf cuttings of rhizomes and stem cuttings of canes are easy but tuberous are just a huge PITA. They are so succulent I've started letting them callus before sticking them this year in hopes that will work - so far no go.

I've seen some bananas in the Atlanta area that appear to be hardy (maybe the owners dig them up but they seem to be in the same spot each year). After I lost mine years ago by letting them outside I decided to just bring them in each year and play it safe. Yes, mine has red splotches (think they call them Rojo or something else).

I typically don't buy cannas unless they have some interest in the leaf so the ones I have now are reliable (Cleopatra) but my Tropicana gave up the ghost and I tried them a couple of times. Then I had a couple slender leaf types that were not hardy either.

Cleopatra has red and yellow blooms plus cool looking leaves.

Here was my first red banana (lot more red than the one I have now) that I let outdoors and lost.

and my other one that I put in the ground - should've let it in the pot but it just got too big

Too big for a basement (the current one I have now - hence the reason I just cut off the mother plant and leave the bare culms in a trug)

hc mcdole..you have such unique tropicals..the leaves on all of them are gorgeous..I'm just happy that mine are alive..my bananas are musa basjoo..would be hardy for you..maybe you could use them as background plants with more choice plants in front....nice that musas can stay outside..my cannas are green leaves with red blooms..cheap as usual and I thought I'm covering the banana anyway..glad I bought them..they add to my "tropical oasis"..it's interesting to me that the red and bronze leaves seem more delicate..my prettiest canna died..

I think there are some bananas that are hardy to like zone 4? Not sure if they bear fruit (mine are purely ornamental anyway and it takes two years to bear fruit too - I think).

I've seen some banana trees in other folks' yards that are 20 feet high with thick trunks. When I was a kid living in Puerto Rico (Navy brat) we had a banana tree in our backyard at one of the places we lived which did have a stalk of fruit. That was such a long time ago.

Cannas are neat plants (almost like miniature banana trees with their leaves) and splashy blooms. I had a grab bag of them at our last house - red, yellow, and maybe orange blooms. Our neighbor's dog had a field day digging them out of the bed I planted them in though. GRRR!

After Tropicana came out I knew I had to get into the foliage part of tropical plants. Bought it, kept it in a container, gave a piece to my mother which she has today and I can no longer grow it. I'm at wit's end with this beauty.

Here it is around her compost heap.

the info I've seen about musa says zone 6..I'm in 6 but I wouldn't leave it unprotected..my neighbor said that when she's in FL she's always looking at bananas and her's are smaller but prettier..less browning..leaves not as ratty..we get a "new" plant every year..she had a beginning of a flower? or fruit? but it didn't fully develop..musa fruit is inedible anyway..I've seen Tropicana but was never willing to pay what they cost..your mother's cannas look great!..lately I'm kind of attracted to orange..

I got the zone 4 off Logee's site so take it for what it's worth.

Here are some giant bananas at Callaway Gardens at Pine Mountain, GA in their conservatory or whatever they call it. Probably 20 to 25 feet tall. That would hit our ceiling in our great room so that option is out (and I don't think my wife would put up with it anyway)

These are not even the tallest there

I just bought Tropicana for the foliage, the blooms are icing on the cake.

Cleopatra has both interesting leaves and blooms.

I'm not jealous of someone's huge home but to have a large beautiful conservatory would be a dream!..I saw a show about Callaway years ago..would like to see it..Tropicana and Cleopatra are so striking..in comparison my cannas are a little drab lol..

There is another cool canna - Stuggart I think. White stripes on green foliage. Okay - spelled that wrong, it is Stuttgart. Here is a few images of it. I just haven't seen it for sale locally and hate buying mail order as they are usually quite small.

https://www.google.com/search?q=canna+stuttgart&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwilqIDiuK7VAhWCbj4KHU8sC1sQ_AUICygC&biw=1184&bih=528#imgrc=FmSm1Fui89kZyM:

And if you ever get to mid-GA, go to Callaway Gardens and also take in Animal Safari - thought I would hate it but it was a riot - animals that you feed from your car (you can rent an open Jeep there or take their bus if you don't want to have your car drooled on).

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=callaway+gardens&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjBso7Hua7VAhUFNT4KHTg2C9gQvwUIdCgA&biw=1184&bih=528&dpr=1.62

https://www.google.com/search?biw=1184&bih=528&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=animal+safari+columbus+ga&oq=animal+safari+columb&gs_l=psy-ab.3.0.0i24k1l3.10984.17987.0.20291.20.20.0.0.0.0.136.1739.15j5.20.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.20.1730...0j0i67k1j0i30k1j0i8i30k1.5w90LyViPf0

Stuttgart IS cool..we went to a place in FL 40 years ago (I was very young then lol) where you drove your car thru a park where animals roamed..it was fun..

You would have a laugh riot if you went today. This was my daughter's idea to do this for their young son but I didn't want to waste time and money but was I ever surprised. It turned out to be a highlight.

Here she is in the backseat of their van trying to keep a giraffe from drooling all over her.

and the car in front of us

a big water buffalo I rolled the window up on before it "slimed" me

those animals are unbelievably friendly!..and MESSY haha

All the animals mingled including pigs, zeedonks (a cross between zebra and donkey?), deer from small to very large, American buffalo, water buffalo, cattle of different strokes, and ostriches, emus, etc. The tigers though were behind chain link enclosures for obvious reasons which I felt bad for.

looks a bit dangerous on this zebra about to munch on my daughter's hand

so surprising to see "wild" animals behave like a dog..fun place

Amazing what food does to animals (and probably starving humans too)

I think the animals love the food, the freedom (no cage) and the interaction with people..they seem happy..nice to see