Here's the pic I should have posted with my prior thread.
Bonfire begonia pic
Every time I pop onto this forum I wonder why I stay away so long. That one's a beauty for sure.
Thanks!!! Lou
I love Begonia Bonfire. I always wonder why my humming birds seem to ignore it. It looks like a hummer plant for sure. Has anyone else with Bonfire seen any humming birds make use of it?
grik: My ruby-throated hummers go to my Bonfire. Last year was the first year I tired this plant and it was a huge hit with the hummers. So I repeated this year. It's not the hummers number 1 favorite, but in the top 10. Also, I had Agastache planted last year they wouldn't touch, this year it's one of their main stops. Go figure!
Interesting hummer_girl. Maybe they'll use it next year.
I know that this plant is patented and you are not supposed to start it from cuttings. Has anyone grown any of the seed from it. I started some babies from the seeds and I'm just curious what will come up.
Last year I collected seeds from my Bonfire. I started them April 1st this year, not knowing what would happen. Thought they might be sterile since the plant is a hybrid. But I have plants growing and flowering, though they took a long time to reach the flowering stage. If I want blooms in May, then I need to start seeds no later than February 1st.
Look for small pods after the bloom drops off. Harvest the pod when it turns a dried looking brown, but before it breaks open. There are thousands of tiny seeds inside.
This plant was grown from seed collected in 2008.
This message was edited Aug 29, 2009 1:14 PM
This message was edited Aug 29, 2009 1:18 PM
Here's a close-up of the flowers with new pods attached at the back of the flower stem. The pods will turn golden brown and dry after the bloom drops off. Be patient, it takes a while!
Nicely done hummer_girl - growing that from seed. I should add that B. 'Bonfire' is not a hybrid but a selected strain of the species B. boliviensis (this comes from some of the begonia experts). Since B. 'Bonfire' is patented it is illegal to propagate it but you can grow plants from seed gathered from it which I find amusing.
Thanks for the hybrid correction. I agree about cultivating seeds, but no cuttings. I was wondering if the Begonia police were going to look me up after admitting I propagated the seeds.
Very cool. I'll post when I get mine to flowering stage. Right now they are just itty bitty green things. I feel like I need a hand lens whenever I look at them.
grik: it took 5 months from planting the seed to the picture I posted above. I took that pic same day I posted it. Good Luck!
Here is my bonfire earlier this year. It was gorgeous!! Now, there is nothing, the stems broke off and nothing remains. This happened last year and I thought I had lost it, but it came right back out this spring. Does yours do that? It may just be too hot down here for them. I hope they will come back again next year. I wish I had kept some seed.
All of mine are in hanging baskets, 5 in sheltered spots against the house and under the eaves. The 3 hanging from tree limbs have suffered some broken branches when it gets very windy or the rain comes down extra hard, but new growth usually covers the bare spots. The ones in sheltered areas aren't affected by windy conditions or strong rain storms; if it is windy they either do not move, or very little if they do. Your potted plant was beautiful, but probably vulnerable to the weather. Possibly one of those encircling supports that are a couple feet high would help to support the plant from strong winds. I have had to use several supports on various potted annuals that are about 3'-4' tall and vulnerable when the wind slaps them around.
I have to say, we hardly ever have wind here, except when there is a storm, maybe twice a year. I think maybe the branches just got too heavy, you can see how long they were. I should have 'pinched' them back. The bad thing is, there is no new growth and the rhizomes(?) seem rotted now. I really hope they come back. Thanks
What's up with my Bonfire? I had two last year in combo baskets and they performed beautifully. Thinking they were annuals in this area I left them out during this past very cold winter. This spring one of them started showing signs of life and promptly put out two new branches. Then those two grew and grew - straight out - about 2', then they started blooming on the ends of the branches. All the while the branches were getting fatter and fatter. This week they fell off, they were just too heavy, the stems were at least 1 1/2" in diameter. The plant looked weird with just those two fat branches so I was not too upset with losing it, and I am looking for new ones, but is that normal for this cultivar?
Incidentally, the second plant I had keeps putting out tiny leaves which promptly fall off. Both baskets are on a drip system to keep the soil evenly moist.
That's what happened to mine. I successfully overwintered 4 of them and in mid March or so they started sprouting growing long branches and blooming under or close to shop lights. I moved them outdoors and the branches broke off (too tender for wind?) Since then they sprouted anew but nothing like they did indoors. The nice thing is they are becoming so commonplace it is easy to buy new ones and treat them as annuals. My newest one I put in an 18 inch pot and has covered it fairly well after 4 weeks. Gagirl's is the nicest one I've seen - standing erect is hardly ever seen (is it staked?)
The tuber continues to grow in size and one guy showed his enoromous tuber on the Yahoo site - it looked to be over 12 inches in diameter. That would win a prize in my book without even sprouting.
I saved two tubers or rhizomes??? from my hanging basket and planted them indoors in March. Although they don't fill a basket, they grew and are blooming nicely. I knew it wouldn't live thru our winters and it sorta went dormant when I took the basket indoors last fall. I took the tubers out of the soil and stored them in a baggie with some peat moss and they did just fine. I really love it and we have one hummer that just loves it and the others prefer other things in the garden??? Lou
Hmmmm, ggod to know I was not the only one with a weird Bonfire. Maybe I will just dig these tubers out and put them someplace where they can do their thing - if they want to - and find some new ones.
Butch,
Actually that is in a hanging basket. If you look closely, you can see the top of the basket, so it is 'hanging' some. The same thing happened to that one also. Gorgegous as you can see, and then one day all the branches started falling off and then it rotted. I almost cried! But like you say, they are becoming more common, I finally found another a couple of weeks ago and the Bellfire. The Bellfire is doing great, but the Bonfire is dropping limbs and not doing so well. It has been raining cats and dogs here every afternoon for the last 4-5 days, so I finally put them under the porch a couple of days ago.
Here they are right after I bought them...
and the other
Gagirl,
Those look different than your other picture. The first picture looks GIANT in a small pot and very erect branching. Photos can be very deceiving.
Last year I bought four at $1 apiece at the Barn Nursery in Chattanooga. Then a friend of mine gave me two he propagated with the tuber halfway out of the potting mix. This year I got a nice one at the same nursery in Chattanooga for $7 but have seen big baskets for $20. They grow so fast and are so common anymore that I may treat them like Dragon Wings and some other begonias that are a bear to get through winter (think Sinbad).
According to a commercial grower, no one is supposed to propagate this plant due to a patent on it. You can grow any seed from it but no vegetative propagation is permitted. This is aimed more at the large growers selling it but....
This is B. boliviensis where B. 'Bonfire' came from. I got this at Lowe's a few years back but I overwatered it and lost it. It seems to rot easily if kept too wet.
This message was edited Jul 2, 2010 3:11 PM
My tubers are still quite firm, that is what is so puzzling.
Wow! I'm glad I found this thread. I had no idea 'Bellfire' existed. Awesome! I have boliviensis. I usually have at least one that I can keep dormant over winter and bring back. Last winter I had another one that didn't go dormant and just kept growing with very low light.
How is Bonfire different from boliviensis? Also how is Bellfire different? I've read they both came out of the same 'breeding program'. Did they cross boliviensis with another species?
Kyle
Bonfire is an improved selection from boliviensis. Bellfire and many more have been developed from the demand for Bonfire I suppose - (there's money in them genes).
http://www.beekenkamp.nl/ornamentals/categorie/319/begonia-waterfallŽ.htm
http://firstclassplants.com/m/SFC_NewsFlash_March2008.pdf
http://newsroom.tesselaar.com/plants/begonia-bonfire
From my experience only the younger plants make good hanging baskets. As someone observed earlier in the thread when you save the tubers the plant grows big thick stems that are more upright. It is still beautiful but doesn't cascade much and taller than what I would want for a basket.
grik, thanks for the info. Interesting and useful.