Tropicals & Tender Perennials: A cheap thrill, 1 by Kell

Kell wrote:
I am so easy to make happy. I was in a nursery and walked by this begonia. I looked at it and thought Begonia bolivensis but it was so purple!

The first time I saw the orange flowered B. bolivensis at an arboretum, I had to have it. I found those fat fleshy stems coming out of the soil like a fountain and those so many orange flowers so enticing.

And here I found a big purple pot that I did not even know existed. The nurseryman had no clue what it was. No tag. When I got home with it of course, I googled B. boliviensis and found B. Bellfire! Grown from a seedling of B. bolivensis in a fancy breeding program that produced B. Bonfire which was released in 2005.