Help - I don't know Begonia's!

I bought this Begonia about 2 months ago and it just had a label in it that said Rhizomatous Begonia, nothing about the amount of sun or light, water etc. I've looked and looked at different Begonia's on the internet and found one that said Rex Begonia that looked a lot like this one but I thought Rex Begonia's were small ... this plant has larger leaves than any Rex I've ever seen ... but, LOL maybe I haven't seen a lot of Rex's. I bought this plant because I fell for the shape and color of the leaves and I sure would like to know more about it's care and culture so I can keep it alive ... the few Rex's I've bought over the years have died quickly under my care.

I'm hoping some of you Begonia Pro's will have some advice for me on how to care for this one. I have a couple of photo's.

#1 Whole Plant:

Photo #2 Close up of new leaf, reddish in color:

That is a beautiful plant. TIred of gessies? It looks a little like benitocheba.

It is the new 'Gryphon' - probably the hottest begonia making the circles now. Home Depot had dozens of them today as well as a couple of the local nurseries. I bought one from Taylors a couple of months ago and the color is so different under lights versus the ones I saw today (I did buy the one at Home Depot too - much larger for less).

Here is the one from Taylor's (right hand side)

hcmcdole...that is a beautiful tray of begonias. Have the plants in the tray been covered for awhile? I am always careful to try and give them good circulation and some space but mine never look as good as yours. It must be the humidity. Next winter I need to work on that for their stay inside. Your Gryphon looks very different from the photo on Taylors website. The colors are fantastic.

Hey Shifty,

Those begonias have not been covered at all. Just ran out of shelf space so I put the five from Kartuz and the ten from Taylor's in the same pan after I moved them all up to six oz cups. They will be going outside any day now where they will get lots of room to grow.

Yes I was amazed at the colors of this Gryphon and the separation of the leaflets compared to others I've seen on the web and now seeing around town. I will take a picture of my other one today and post it.

I thought it might be Gryphon, I just ordered one (and a few others, LOL) from Taylor's yesterday. I hope mine looks as good as the ones pictured. What incredible colors and shapes on those leaves.

begoniadude: I don't grow many Gesneriads anymore ... have maybe three or four Chirita's and that's about it.

hcmcdole: Wow, that's a beautiful pot full of Begonia's you have there! Thanks so much for the name of my Begonia. I will google and see if I can find information regarding proper care ... was wondering if it could be planted outside? It won't survive over winter I know but I'm wondering how much sun it can take ... if any.

Thanks again!

I think you may be surprised at how tough begonias are. For zone 9, there are lots of folks who grow them in the ground and perhaps providing a frost blanket for those sub freezing nights.

Here is the one I bought from HD this weekend. Not as nice looking as the Taylor's but both are labeled as the same plant. Time will tell if the smaller one will morph into the larger one.

Well, of all the begonias i received from Taylor's a few weeks ago, poor Gryphon has declined and is sadly on it's way out. Drat, that was the one I most wanted. The other 9 plants I ordered at the same time are doing very well, most of them have already doubled in size.

I have already planted seeds of Gryphon. Does anyone think the seedlings will vary in color and size? I'm anxious to see.

I was at a local nursery two weeks ago and they had at least a hundred Gryphon seed grown plants. They were very small young plants and they did look pretty uniform in color. I realize this is only one example but it was a large sample of seed grown Gryphon plants. Size at that point was fairly uniform.

Just had to have it. Well, I have two Gryphons from Taylor's coming tomorrow. Got the extra one for insurance. Looking forward to receiving them.

Thanks, Shifty. I hope I am successful with mine so I can take some pics.

I have begonias that come back after freezes. They rode into the garden as a hitchhiker with a different plant i bought. I left them and after the first winter I thought they wouldn't come back but they have come back every year.

Pics please, Peony.

The original plant coming back from roots:

a division of that same plant:

a dragon wing that came back:

My gryphon, which isn't as large as some seem to be getting, and which has not come back from the roots after freezing:



This message was edited May 18, 2011 10:38 AM

Wow, peony, those are very pretty begonias. Especially Gryphon. I can't wait to see mine get that big. They haven't even sprouted yet. :-p
What zone are you in?

Oh. I'm in 9a, in Texas. Thanks. I love the gryphon.

Here's a pic my Gryphon seedlings. I hope they keep growing well and become like the big ones in the pics above.