I was in Orange County (NY) buying some koi when we happened upon a garden show at a local market/bakery/greenhouse. They had some pretty nice plants, and I ignored my DH who kept saying "there is no more room in the greenhouse" and purchased some begonias. Now I need ID's, please.
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
# 4 and 5 are my fav! I wonder if #3 isn't Bill Claybaugh ( spelling?). If so it will get huge!
Oh, but to see #6 in person, which you will...if I don't kill it. And I have to go down in April to pick up my fish. I'm stopping in again. The 2 inch containers (first 3) were $1.79 each. The huge containers 5 and 6 were 10.99 and the medium 4 was 5.99. It's my favorite place. Who would have thought downstate was cheaper?
#1 looks like the making of Midnight Magic (too small to be sure right now)
#3 Silver Dollar
#6 Purple Snow (or its evil twin)
Butch-
Is Purple Snow jointed like Brother Montgomery? And what is the evil twin?
I thought #5 might be escargot, but the dark outside band does not appear wide enough and the interior circle is spotted. Could #4 be part of the deco series? It looks like a pink version of the deco diamond dust that I have.
Yes, Purple Snow is a jointed upright rhizome. I was teasing about evil twin - twin because it looks like it and evil because like any rex in winter it bedevils you with dropping leaves, mildew, and semi dormancy.
#5 is definitely not Escargot but might be some form of a _______ Curl (you fill in the blank).
#4 might be a deco series. Have you checked both PHOE's site and the Houston site?
Here is one of my Purple Snows last summer. It doesn't look bad in the basement but it isn't great either.
I am determined to figure out how to grow rexes. I went to a woman's house to buy a couple wardian cases. She had large rexes in a window of an upstairs bedroom, in winter, all leafed out. She just "sticks them up there" to overwinter. Mine sulk and pout in the greenhouse. Primadonnas.
So, two definite ID's, two maybes. I have written Adams Fairacre Farms to find out if they can give me a list of what they bought so I can narrow it down.
Looks like we got a lot of the same begonias from the same supplier - #3. #4, #5 and #6. I don't have names. I thought #5 was Escargot when I first bought it but it looks a lot like Hurricane on Rob's Violets website.
I bet the begonias are from Harmony Foliage. They are big in rexes.
Here is another rex place but the names look like they have all been changed from the original names. I guess you can name them whatever you want to.
http://www.rexbegonias.com/BEGONIAS.htm
This message was edited Mar 9, 2010 11:42 AM
We were trying to get a begonia buy going on our yahoo group, but we can't find a vendor that deals in begonias. Do you think Harmony Foliage (no website?) would have a variety of different types - rex, cane, rhizo?
I doubt Harmony would do that. Lloyd might though.
Diane
I have a Fireflush and an Iron cross I got from a nursery 2yrs ago. They were sold for $15 in 6 in pot. Fireflush is very sensitive to dryness. The St louis summers are great for it and it lives outside in the shade of a tree. In the winter, I place it in a large fish tank that is covered. It sits on a window ledge. I place a jar of water in the tank which is lined with pebbles like a humidity tray. I water only once every two wks ( if I remember). We can view a picture of them under the " leaf rooting experiment" thread and the entry is March 6 2010 154pm. I love Rexes not matter how hard they are. I guess I am a glutton for punishment.
Butch thanks for clarifying the evil twin deal.
I know they are shipped up from Florida because the greenhouse has told me so. I see a few matches in that link, hcmcdole. One of mine is a dead ringer for Green Tiger. I guess I'll call it that.
DBsmith2, your first one looks similar to one I bought from the same place last year too. I did post it in another thread and it was suggested that it was Midnight Magic, too. Unfortunately, I left that outside and I'm sorry now because I can't find it again. I loved the color. It just suffered so much from PM the winter before. Actually, I will tell you a few of these plants are suffering from PM. The worst is the same as your #6. I can see the start of it in your picture as well. I know it will recover once the weather warms up and they go outside.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/957650/
I spray weekly with Milstop and Cease, so hopefully pm won't be an issue. They got doused as soon as they went in the greenhouse. Thanks for all the information. I have to look at the pix when I get home.
Green Tiger is more than likely Marmaduke. I don't know why they changed the names most of us know them by. Same for Curly Lion should be Cowardly Lion. Oh well, it's not about the name anyway.
Well, Marmaduke is one that I've never grown before even though it has been easily available over the past few years so I can't say for sure. It always struck me that Marmaduke had a larger leaf with more puckering and perhaps a little more yellow to the green? I will have to give it time and see how "Green Tiger" grows as it matures. Right now, they are small and smoother with thin stems.
Do the anti fungal sprays smell?
The one in your bottom shelf does not look like Marmaduke. Are you saying you bought this as Green Tiger from the rex begonia place?
Marmaduke has always given me fits in winter. I lost at least two but I'm trying it once again.
Here is one of my bigger ones a few years ago.
I have to laugh when you talk about names being changed. Sometimes I think it has to do with deciphering hand written tags. I bought an "Ant Hole" (Art Hodes)Begonia a couple years ago. I still chuckle when I think of it.
Ant Hole. Has a ring to it. Sounds like a polite way to swear.
Hcmcdole - no, I am not saying that it is Green Tiger for sure at all. The begonias did come from Florida but they all had tags that just said "Rex Begonias". I assumed that was used as a general term, not the name of the greenhouse. Here is another company just down the road with the same catalog:
http://www.florico.com/Product-Begonias.html
Yep, I remember Logee's talking about Ant Holes years ago.
Loretta, I bet Florico and Rex Begonias sell each other's stuff. I think it must be part of the business trade. For instance Yucca Do probably supplies PDN with a lot of their agaves (Tony Avent mentions Yucca Do). Same goes for Peace Tree. I showed a begonia 'Black Fancy' on the Yahoo group and Lloyd said it was one of his (he supplies Proven Winners or something like that). Not that I care where it comes from as long as it is well grown and reasonable in price.
The other thing on labels is I bet some grower had a million printed and had to do something with them all so for years Lowe's (maybe Home Depot) had begonias that were "not" rex but the tag said Rex begonias - serratipetala (how misleading - serratipetala is not a rex and there were no serratipetalas for sale anyway - they are very hard to obtain).
Hillbilly_Gran, I laughed very hard about Ant Holes. When I told Butch about my acquisitions from PHOE, he corrected some of the names. For example, Flamingo Soul sounds much better than Flamingo Soup! It is so ironic that we attribute so much to a name while it might not always be the intended given name anyways. It's like Turkish telephone.
