Every year I can't resist the beautiful non-stop begonias in the nurseries. I buy them, bring them home, and plant them according to directions. In just a few days, I notice the new blooms are no longer like the first blooms (which resembeled an open rose),but now are a flat flower with only a few petals instead of the multiple petals and rose shape as the first flowers were. What causes this? Is it natural for only the first blooms to be the biggest and best? I would appreciate any advice on how I can get the plant to continue to bloom with those large rose-shaped blooms.
Getting non-stop begonias to keep their big blooms
Tuberous Begonia flowers are "imperfect". There are male and female flowers.
The advice I've read, mentions that there will be 3 begonia flowers per flower stalk. The first flower which opens is the double male flower. The side flowers are the single female flowers. Always take the two side flower buds off before they open. This forces the plant to concentrate all it's energy into the middle flower. It will also continue to flower longer, if it doesn't start producing seeds in the female flowers.
Eje-
Thanks so much for that explanation about the begonias!! That is really interesting, and I will follow your advice, and see if I can get those large flowers to continue. You were a real help to me, and I really appreciate your time in answering my question.