Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Easy to grow?, 1 by hcmcdole

hcmcdole wrote:
GAgirl, I gave up on the Iron Cross begonia just like Escargot. Both seem too difficult and fussy to keep. Yours looks pretty good. What I would do if I tried it again is keep it in a terrarium. I have vareigata (used to be masoniana maculata) which I've had in an big ice bucket with a big plastic cake lid for the past few years. It requires a dribble of water every couple of months and looks very good. It keeps mildew off which is a main culprit of both Escargot and iron cross.

Jackie, I know what you mean about not chucking anything because a lot of them come back strong in summer. I got to spraying mine this year with Milstop. I think that has helped a lot with mildew. It's just a shame I didn't know about it earlier since mildew probably took most of my mallet begonias (Lynda Dawn, Benigo, etc). Oh well, spring is almost here and I hope to buy some more this year even if I have to treat those as annuals.

Here is Irene Nuss. I gave a couple of cuttings to my mother a couple of years ago and this is how big it got last year (about five feet tall).