Anaconda
Favorite Begonias
Marmaduke
Metallica
Nice Metallica. Going to have to look for this one this year.
Here is a pot of canes from two years ago. Lynda Dawn is the dark one, Medora the small leaf one, Dragon Wings is plain green, and the large leaf one is odorata. On the other side of the pot is Ikon Blush. I love to stick a bunch of different ones in the same large pot (18 inch in this case).
Here is an unknown - easy bloomer (bought it on one of the Keys coming home from Key West 9 years ago). The closest I could ID it by pictures is Mary Ann Flunker but bought one at the S.F. convention last year so until it blooms, it will be hard to tell.
This pot shows maculata (large dots), Mrs. Hashimoto (a cascading one with white blooms), Encanto Bronze (this one gets tall and has the pink blooms). The pot also had Morocco in it but it was on the other side.
One of my favorites - Sinbad makes a huge shrub in no time but is very mildew prone in fall. The others included are Torch (red blooms), Richmondensis (pink blooms), and Chocolate (white blooms). Chocolate is probably Withlacoochee but renamed by some grower for simplicity.
The mallets seem to get mildew year round here. I'm going to try to spray milstop all summer long to see if I can grow Sinbad, Looking Glass, Linda Dawn, Beningo, 62 Grand and crew. There has been no "making a huge shrub" in my yard. Not even graduating out of a 4" pot.
Love your begonias Butch.
Beautiful Begonias, all of them. Metallica is something to look for and the"possible" Mary Ann Flunker is stunning. Love Marmaduke...I have had it for a few years, but have never put it outside in the summer. After seeing yours I really should do it this year. The problem is the chipmunks around here love the rhizomes, they chew on them like an apple!
The combo pots are really nice, I might try one this year, I do it with every other plant but have always kept the begonias in their individual pots. Even in the spring I am thinking about bringing them inside come fall. These pics have given me some great choices to look for. Thanks again for posting them.
I do some combo pots and just leave the begonias in their own pots. The roots grow out the bottom.
There is a Thompson cane named Miss Julie that I have admired on the main page of Brads website and I noticed Kartuz is offering it along with several other of his canes. Does anyone have Miss Julie? I am wondering if it is difficult to grow. The picture is so beautiful.
Mine are not large enough to flower - I have one from Kartuz and one from Logee's - Taylor's now has it too. They are doing OK in the greenhouse, don't seem prone to pm. According to Kartuz, this plant will be so full of flowers that I won't see the foliage. My advice is always to get plants from Taylor's first - they have larger, more robust plants in my experience. For the rare ones, I go to Kartuz.
Do you have a large one of Miss Julie Butch?
As for Miss Julie, I'll let you know later this summer. I ordered it from Kartuz a few weeks ago and it is quite small for now (3 inches tall? in a a 2 inch pot). Hopefully it will grow like a weed when I move it outdoors.
For now here is Irene Nuss.
Wow, I never even noticed it on Taylor's site. Kartuz has the most perfect pic of it in FULL flower, it just caught my eye. I am glad I asked about it. So many choices, its hard to narrow them down.
db...where did you get metallica? I haven't come across it anywhere I am looking.
Logees, many years ago. It must not be common because a member of the Buxton Society wants cuttings for the group. I may just end up mailing you cuttings if I can't coordinate with one of our Rochester people.
Sweet Shirley
db, It's such a beautiful plant and you've had it for so long; I hope I can say that about some some of the begonias I get this year. On that note, I found another fungicide that I am going to try. It is by GreenCure and the active ingredient is the same as Milstop, potassium bicarbonate. It comes in small and large quantities so I can start small first. It isn't as inexpensive as copper products but if it works then that's what counts. I was about to order it on line but then found it locally yesterday, so even better. The woman who owns the garden center said she has been recommending it to customers the last couple of years with great success for the tomato blight that has been prevalent around here. Hopefully it will work on PM on the canes. Now I just need to narrow down my list and order some!
Have you, or anyone who is reading this, heard of Peacetree Farms? I found their website yesterday and they are only wholesale now. They mention that they do not sell to home gardeners at this time but they are working on an on line retail ordering system for 2011. So it sounds like at some point this year they will be taking orders from home growers. I signed up to be notified when it is available and I guess I will see what happens. They have a lot of begonias, not a lot of canes, seems like mainly rhizomatous, but they have some I am interested in; Texas Red Star, and Red Fred.
Again, your cutting offer is much appreciated.
LLoyd (Peacetree) has been talking about going retail for over a year now. I will believe it when I see it. He will happily take anything you can send him to put it in production though.
Texas Red Star and Red Fred are available on eBay periodically. Taylor GH may have both for sale as well and perhaps Kartuz.
Red Fred can be quite variable depending on light, temps, etc. This begonia is a variant of Freddie and was spotted by Mike Flaherty who introduced it to the trade 3 to 4 years ago.
Here is my Red Fred (obtained at the West Palm Beach convention and grown by Harmony Foliage).
Texas Red Star is a nice small begonia. Consider Deco Daddy too if you like TRS.
I think the reason I read that Peacetree doesn't do canes as much is that they get too tall for shipping.
One of my TRS in summer. Winter time is usually less leaves.
Red Fred at the '07 L.A. convention where it was first shown by Mike F.
LLoyd is a stickler about no retail sales. I asked if he could bring begonias to Saratoga when he was an exhibitor for an organic event and was told that they absolutely would not sell to individuals. Imagine my excitement when the begonia society announced members were making a trip to Peacetree in March to stock up for a sale they hold in May. They called Lloyd to place the order and he told them he was out of inventory until the spring. They are scrambling trying to find a source. But at least he will sell to the society, and then I buy from it.
Logees is closer to me and much more friendly. If I was going to share something, I would go to Byron. Unfortunately, the begonia society had a falling out with Logees about 10 years ago and don't want to deal for plants. Oh well, I usually find what I want, or I"ll have to make arrangements to go to Georgia and raid someone's yard.
Interesting about Peacetree. I guess I will wait and see if I ever get the email stating they are not taking retail on line orders.
Thanks for the info on Red Fred. I will keep my eye out for TRS. Didn't see it on Taylor or Kartuz, but lots of time for it to show up.
TRS is for sale right now on eBay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/begonia-Texas-Red-Star-4-pot-/330523822827?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf4c14aeb
I just received 2 boxes of begonias from this seller. Almost all were wonderful. Rajah was a problem - 2 leaves on delivery, both died. They advised to put it in a warm terrarium, so that's where it is. But all the other plants exceeded expectations. It is hard to leave feedback though.
Butch - what do you think about Rajah?
Wow, I would not have thought we could receive a shipment now....?
My rajah has been in a terrarium for the last 3 years in the original pot from Logee's. One day I hope to move it to its own terrarium where it can grow to its heart's content.
You can see it has some competition in this very large aquarium with other begonias.
They mailed on Saturday morning and it arrived on my doorstep Monday afternoon, with heat packs. They only need it to be above freezing for those 3 days. I was just browsing the selection from ebay since we have a warm spell coming up. Ordinarily I won't chance it, but they said it was no problem.
Butch-
Do you think it's true that Rajah will come back from the crown if I keep it warm and in a terrarium? Or should I request a replacement? Also, as I was cruising ebay, I saw a seller from China with some interesting begonias. I've never ordered from abroad, but I see others from the US got his plants. Any experience?
As for rajah, it all depends on the rhizome - is it big enough to survive without leaves (ordinarily that would be true but for a very tiny one it may not be). Hopefully you didn't order it from JB Farms (or something like that). Worst deal ever on eBay.
I got all those Chinese begonias when it was offered last fall but a guy on the Yahoo group ended up doing the transaction saving everyone a bundle on shipping and sanitary papers by having only one shipping address. They are all tubers so be forewarned. They all looked firm but rather small - about the size of a kernel of corn to a kidney bean. Out of the 7 I got only one has come up so far. The others may be shriveled or molded - I have not checked in a long time. They are in a makeshift terrarium and under lights but tubers have a mind of their own.
This message was edited Feb 14, 2011 8:34 AM
Thanks Butch.
right now i like red fred,but what got me intrested in begonia was this old fashioned beefsteak begonia
that i got in starts,had it for years then one day,it up and died,hoping to get crestbunchi and bunchii
and madam quess and few others,last laugh is doing well for me,
JIM
Hey Jim,
Shame about your beefsteak. 'Red Fred' is nice but you should try 'Freddie' too ('Red Fred' came from a sport of 'Freddie'). Instead of 'Madame Queen' try 'Muddy Waters' - it is a much easier grower and is very similar to 'Madame Queen'.
Here is one of my 'Muddy Waters'.
soon as i can find them ill give them a shot,Thanks
JIM
Unbelievable, but true, I actually received my ebay order of Texas Red Star and U561 today. It had been mild but as if often does in March in Rochester, it turned cold. The seller said she would watch and ship when ok, which I did not think was now. I came home from work to bring them in the house rather than let them sit outside 4 more hours. TRS is a good sized plant and has some cold damage but very little. U561 is hating life at the moment. A lot of cold damage and fallen leaves.( I put the leaves in water to see what happens) The heat pack was still warm but U561 had pretty wet soil and it was fairly cold and has more succulent leaves. Both are in a small empty terrarium (closed top) in their pots with some cups of warm water just to add some extra warmth and humidity for the immediate time. Both are rhizomes I believe, can't find a lot about either.
hcmcdole....I know you have had TRS..have you found it has any special requirements?
Has anyone grown U561?
Back to work ...thanks for any info.
TRS is fairly easy - just keep it watered when it dries out a tad and give it some light whether filtered sunlight or artificial light.
U561 is a bit of a prima donna in my opinion. I prop'ed one from a leaf and it did very well in perlite and under a plastic lid but now it dropped all its leaves. The mother plant is still in its original container (same place you got yours - Harmony) and grows some and then recedes and grows some and recedes. I think it really wants to have more light or humidity or both.
This was a picture of it last March. It is much smaller right now (lost most of its leaves) but I hope that when I move it outside in a few weeks it will take off.
Great, a prima donna, I should have known. I should have asked the questions first. I will stick the best of the leaves that came off in perlite and see if anything happens. I need to watch it the next day or so: there is quite a bit of leaf damage from the cold. I love the leaves on both of these; I hope I can keep U561 going. Thanks for the information on both.