Seeds and Seedlings

Spring time is going to be your best time for begonia shopping in Atlanta. Still a little early in the year and the weather is frightful.

Don't be discouraged if your rexes go into decline (they should look great for a few weeks). Don't keep them sopping wet, let dry a little between each watering so they don't rot. If the leaves turn ugly pinch them off and discard, new ones will come on after the plant gets happy with its new home. For best results, cut a few leaves off and propagate those ASAP if you love the plant.

Let's hope the weather is much better come late Feb. and we will see you at the meeting.

A bowl of rexes I put together years ago. Looked really nice for a while then I over watered them when the leaves started falling off. Easy come, easy go.

This message was edited Jan 14, 2011 10:36 PM

Amazing color combo hcmcdole. What's the name of the begonia with the red centered leaf, green stippling on the outer portion then edged in red on the top and bottom left of your picture? It looks similar to the plants I bought today.

The top one is probably Taurus (or one of the constellation series). The bottom left is Pink Champagne. Don't know them all but picked these up at the Barn Nursery in Chattanooga (2003) in 4 inch pots. Put florists foam on the bottom of the cobalt blue ceramic pot to give some height and then nestled each begonia in their own pot into the big blue pot.


Here is Pink Champagne, Shaun's Fantasy (or Dream) - the all green one, and Celia from this past summer.

I love Shaun's Fantasy. Any idea where I might find one?

I haven't any idea where to find Shaun's Fantasy except keep your eyes on eBay for now. I guess when it gets into production full swing then it should be available in lots of places.

Hcmcdole, I'm on a roll, I'm now the proud owner of 13 new rex begonia plants from my local Pikes, of course NOID, but I've been to the website of the grower, and should be able to name some of the plants. Yeah me:-) I've done as you've suggested and set up leaves to root on perlite, covered by plastic in case I loose any of the plants, as back up. I can now last untill the local chapter meeting since I've finally gotten some plants. Thanks for all of your great instructions.

That is our job here Annette! Get you excited about growing begonias. Now don't get dismayed if you lose a bunch your first few months. That is how we learn - by making mistakes! I guarantee if you stick with it you will be amazed at how easy it will become the more you do it. Kind of reminds me of learning to ride a bike - if I quit everytime I crashed and skinned my knees or hands then I would've never learned how to ride!

Here is an adage from an old Begonian Magazine:

I chuckled after I read the excerpt, it's so true. I've over the years made many mistakes with the variety of plants that I've grown. I'm still learning by doing, as we all are:-)