Favorite angle wings?

Do hostas and begonias make good companions?

Nice canes Butch yes Hostas and Coleus both make
good companions in my
humble opinion. Caladiums too. Try to place mine in dappled shade/sun. They all seem to like it.
Butch your Beg must be Eastgate. I will send a pic of
Down Home as soon as I locate mine

Thanks Jackie. It's been a number of years since I got that cane and I didn't label it when it came in. I wished she was still in business because she had a few nice varieities to choose from.

Here is Teen Angel.

Butch,Teen Angel is a pretty Begonia. Is it an offspring of Looking Glass?
Here's Down Home. I have never grown this one to potential; My
friend grew this one to over 3 feet tall.

Thanks Jackie for posting that picture of 'Down Home'. I will label that other mystery cane as 'East Gate' until someone else ID's it for sure.

I have no idea what the parents of 'Teen Angel' are. I got that from Greg S. last summer when I visited him. I guess I am drawn to silver (and red and black and brown and ...)

Here is 'Little Brother Montgomery' yesterday with Alocasia 'Frydek' behind it.

Butch, I love Little Brother Montgomery but I couldn't grow it.
It's one of the ones I killed.

Jackie, I think the trick on LBM and Connee Boswell and other UJR is to never let them dry out. I must have a fast draining soil because I water them almost every day.

Connee Boswell in noonday sun. I had to block the sun with my body to get the picture.

Janet Brown before I moved it outdoors. Now I don't even notice it (I think I have 3 somewhere).

Butch, I had the same results with Connee as Little Brother Montgomery.
Love the Janet Brown Begonia, really nice.
.
My Rhiz that I've kept alive for 4 to 5 yrs, a record for me. lol

Good old Cowardly Lion. I used to have problems with this one but after I started watering it thoroughly, I've had a lot better luck.

hcmcdole, in the picture of Cracked Ice you posted on May 11, in the upper left-hand corner, what is that variety? The one with small leaves that are mostly silver. Is it a cane?
Also is Janet Brown a cane?

kill, that would be Snow-Capped. It is a cane. Janet Brown is a UJR (upright jointed rhizome). UJR's can defoliate completely back to bare rhizomes in winter and then start growing again and become tall shrubby begonias in summer.


Here is B. 'Janet Brown' at The Gazebo in Montecito, CA. which was on the ABS '07 L.A. convention tour

This was probably four feet high and grown to perfection.

Butch, Love the bigger than life Janet Brown, so impressive.
You're Cowardly Lion is a beauty. I noticed mine can handle regular watering too since I use a potting mix, dries out really fast.

Jackie, Janet Brown is a great UJR if you can find it. I brought one back from L.A. and lost it. So last year at the convention I bought two small ones and watered them well even through winter so I think that is the secret - never let them dry out. Now if Kartuz would get all those new UJR's stocked again for sale I'd be ready to try them once more.

I had a couple of begonias show signs of burning this week even though they've been in the same spot for weeks. I suppose the recent high temps approaching high 90's and a heat index over 100 did it to them. I moved one of them (Holley Moon to a little bit shadier spot) but left Paul Hernandez where it was and just added more water.

Here is 'Mr. Hunt' at Kartuz Nursery. It looks a lot like Connee, doesn't it?

Yes it looks a lot like Connee. Mr Hunt looks like a large grower?

Spectacular! Thanks, hc. So I'm to take it then that when the UJRs lose leaves they are just dormant and can come back out? I have always had trouble with them. Well, I didn't know there were UJRs. I just thought there were simply rhizomatous. And seems everyone I tried 'died'. I appreciate knowing your personal experience with them.
I definitely want Mr. Hunt, Janet Brown and Snow-Capped.

kill, that is correct. If a UJR loses leaves does not mean it is dead or dying. Do not let it dry out nor keep it constantly wet. Mine looked great indoors but if I let them dry too much the leaves started dropping and a lot of leaves looked pretty bad. I keep them under lights 12 hours a day in winter.

Here is one of my Little Brother Montgomery under lights this past winter. Some leaves are showing a bit of dry damage but overall looks pretty good. I kept it well watered.

Thanks, hc. Great to know. I won't give up so easily next time.

Butch I just go a huge Connee Bosswell and Little Brother Montgomery from Bakers Acres this year. Do you ever trim them to get a bushy look.? Thanks for the tip on watering. That's useful.

I never trim mine except ratty leaves once in a while. You can start new ones by leaf cuttings but it is not easy like a rex or other rhizomatous. It does seem to be a prima donna at times when it comes to humidity. The one in the picture below was doing fine under a lid that got lifted by its pan mates over a few months. Then I potted them all up and Connee is the only one that dropped all its leaves (shock or lack of humidity?) I think the rhizome is okay but waiting to see new growth. The dark one is Kissimmee, the olive one is Aripeka, and one you don't see behind Connee is Cachuma.

hc, those are beautiful. It appears that you have so many different begonias. Do you know how many different varieties you have? What do you do with them all? Keep them? Sell some?
I am adding more all the time. I have one room inside that is practically a greenhouse with all the fluorescent lighting I have.

Kill,

I have hundreds and adding more all the time. I don't sell them but maybe one day, who knows?

I have four rooms in the basement with about 80 shop lights for winter. I have a few in terrariums and growing some from seed (rare types). I move 90 to 95% of them out for summer and back in for winter. If it wasn't for winter, I don't think I would have any major problems other than watering (I haven't set up my micro sprinklers this year so far).

Here's a weird one. I don't know if it is due to the sun hitting one side more than the other or what the case is. Kind of neat in a way. I think this is Bill Claybaugh but it is probably something else.

Wow! 80 shoplights? I think I'm at about ten to fifteen now. And adding more every year. I'm trying to get my brother to take some furniture I don't use to free up even more space. hahahha
Of all the tropicals begonias are the most addictive for me. I do grow some ferns, orchids and others. But nothing I know of is as beautiful as a begonia. The vast variety of them and the differences in them is what makes them the best.

It sounds like it is too late to change your mind. I try to tell new folks to turn around right now or you will be sorry after a few years - it borders on OCD. I just had a couple of ladies visit me this week to get a single beefsteak begonia. The lady who wanted that one begonia changed her mind after she saw my collection - she wanted them all. She did have a small bagful when she left.



Back to canes - this is Avalanche.

My newest pest! Never had snails this large at our last house and we are only 12 miles away.

Avalanche is beautiful. Just give me time..haha. Do you have Eldora? This one grows to the ceiling for me.

At one time I had it from GHW but after all the wrong things they sent out, it was probably not the real one. Anyway I eventually lost it.

Here is Irene Nuss from my mother (she has a magic trick or something). I gave her some cuttings one year and the next year it is five feet tall. It is close to six feet tall already this year and we still have 4 good months of growing weather (her growing season is a bit shorter since they are in middle TN).

Wow! I like Irene Nuss better than Eldora. I bought Eldora because it was the closest thing I could find to a cane begonia I use to have when I was much younger.
Christiana is in middle Tennessee also. About 40 miles south of Nashville.

My sister in law and her family lives in Franklin, TN. My parents are in Sparta (about 25 miles south of Cookeville which is midway between Nashville and Knoxville).

If you are interested in begonias you should go to a convention. The one this year is in San Franciso Aug 17-22. Check the ABS site for more information.

We also are having our annual sale July 31st at the Buckhead Men's Garden Club. I go to FL and buy beautifully grown begonias for the sale the past two years and will be going again next month. You need to get there early because the best ones are sold in ten minutes.

Here are two I bought for myself in the past two years (Challenger two years ago is the tall one and came with two bonus smaller begonias and Red Umbo last year also had one bonus begonia - a green form heracleifolia). I love freebies. The grey one is U357 and hasn't grown as much as I would like so far this year.

Franklin is the next county over from here. I am very familiar with Sparta also.
I wish I could go to conventions and stuff like that. Unfortunately I am responsible for my mother who now has dementia or Alzheimer's. I have to stay with her pretty much 24/7. She just walked off and disappeared for the second time this last Thursday.
Oh well, maybe one of these days.

Sorry to hear about your mother. Is there anyone else to help you out?

My big crassicaulis is crooked as a dog's hind leg.

Well, my brother lives close by. But he has his own family to keep him busy. I do pay a lady to come once a week and help her take a bath and stuff.

You keep showing these pictures and I may have to move to zone 10. LOL

Well zone 10 would be kind of nice but you can do it in zone 7 too - just a lot more work.

PHOE greenhouses May '09 in Miami (zone 10 or 11?)

PHOE?

Ah, you haven't been shopping on line for begonias I see. PHOE stands for Palm Hammock Orchid Estates. GHW is Glasshouse Works (I quit ordering from them a couple of years ago)

Have you heard of PHOE's Cleo? It comes from PHOE and is a a very popular begonia. Tim Anderson is the owner of PHOE and has created many nice begonias such as Caribbean King (and Queen), Caribbean Corsair, all the rex like Deco series, and the list goes on.

Here are some rex like begonias there. The big white one is Judy Cook. It takes the sun and heat very well.

One of the GHs full of canes.

Some of his aroids.

My PHOE's Cleo last year (the lens cap is 67mm for size reference). So far this year it just has small leaves. It typically defoliates for me in winter but does send up many flower spikes.

Butch,
When you say you go to florida, did you mean PHOE or Greg Stytch's place?

I meant Harmony and if I have time (like an extra day maybe to PHOE). Went to Harmony and Greg's place last year.

This philodendron was growing up a tree at Greg's. Shame he didn't have some of these for sale.