I found Begonia "Escargot" in the grocery store!!! I've been wanting this one for so long I am so happy!!! Very healthy little guy too!
Raven
I can't believe it!!
Congrats on that pretty baby!
MsC
You lucky dog.
If there had been more than one I would have grabbed them all (only $3, can you believe that???!!!) so I could send them out to people who've been wanting them too, but I will definitely be able to trade in the spring with this one!!
Raven
Great find raven!! Lovely plant. Amazing what we can pick up at our grocery store, isn't it! I always check the "flowers" section in mine, and often come up with a lovely or two. I got my baby sago palm there not too long ago, and its a happy little guy too. And yes, the prices are extremely reasonable.
Raven you are lucky,at lat you have I am also looking for the same.
This is beautiful. Put me on your Spring list for a possible trade please. I hopefully could come up with something interesting for you. What a great find and a great plant.
Which Gro chain, and did it have a company of origin on it?
oops, I'm drooling on the keyboard again.
Sidney
It came from Fred Meyer but there was no info or tag. i haven't seen another one yet though I keep looking every week!
Raven
I have this one to. I luv it and it seems to be the only begonia that I can really do well with which is strange. Here is a picture of mine that I've done with it for the last two years as a container outside.
:) Donna
Those are so cool looking!
I love the way that wicker looks with it.
Thanks! This was the second year I did it like that. Luv the bamboo grass that's with it. I stuck the grass in my garden last winter and it overwintered last year so that I could use it again.
:) Donna
Donna
You still coming to the Fl round-up? Could you bring me a little one. I'm trying to save my Brown Spiderwort http://aoeu.davesgarden.com/forums/t/487577/ for you.
Sidney
Ok, Sidney. I'll try to bring a piece.
:) Donna
HeeHehe Thanks, oh thanks.
Sidney
If anybody has had success with 'Escargot' I would love to learn your secret. I have gone through several of them. Some came from nurseries and one from a grocery store. A couple were quite large and 2 were very small. They all died. I love this plant and would get another if I thought there was any hope of keeping it alive.
Water them by setting in a bowl 1/2 full of warm water with any light fertilizer. After the soil on top is wet let the pot drain, then dont water again until pot is light and dry. Repeat. If you have one dieing now, gently remove from pot rinse soil off roots with gentile barely warm water.
repot with some dry crumbly soft soil. Water as above with 1 T hydrogen peroxide in 1 cup barely warm water. Let me know how it goes, I hope this helps. You can love a begonia to death.
Sidney
Thanks, Sidney. I am currently 'Escargot'-less but will keep my eyes open. Do you know if you can propagate them by laying the leaf on soil and cutting slits in it? I figure if I can immediately start a few extra plants from the next one I purchase I have a better chance of keeping at least one of them alive. LOL
Yes, I think you can. Glad you reminded me, I'll water my begonias now.
Sidney
LOL
NOH2O, I did the leaf laying thing, per my new propagation book I got from DH and it was 100% failure. I need to go back and see if there is another method and try it.
Raven, so much for my progagation methods for now.
At least your plant survived. LOL
Raven, can you believe I finally got around to posting pix? the first one is one that I planted inground outdoors (bending head in shame, as I KNEW I should have brought it indoors...) Doesn't look too good but it made it and has some buds in it
here is a pix of an escargot that I kept inside the house (my backup plant).
Wow, that plant looks great!
I stumbled on this thread sort of late, but thought I might add a comment. In my experience, this particular begonia resents drying out...the leaf margins turn brown. I don't over water mine, but I do NOT let it dry out anymore.
I had success with propagating a leaf cutting...I left about 2 inches of stem on the leaf, stuck it in loose perlite/peatmoss, covered with plastic, and waited about 2 months. A baby plant emerged near the petiole. Some of the other leaves just rotted. All leaves that I slit rotted. I have some more leaves with petioles (stems) rooting now, but no babies have emerged yet. I think success is better in summer.
The leaves on this begonia turn and twist toward the light...sort of difficult to situate it properly unless it is in a corner facing the light.
Good luck to you fellow snail lovers!
Thanks for the additional information. I definitely want to give this beauty another try.
toxico. what size leaf did you use? I guess you do it the same way you root AVs. How long a petiole did you have?
I used older leaves that were being removed in grooming, and I cut the edges off so that I left about 3 inches of leaf (round, square, or any shape). Just like AV, yes. I left 2 to 3 inches of petiole, and inserted it at a slant. Hope this helps you, but don't expect it to be fast...the baby I have was started late last summer and is still quite small...biggest leaf is about 2 1/2 inches across.
Toxi
WOW, i never knew how pretty Begonia's were till i stumbled on this thread..I am gonna have to keep my eyes out for them down here as well...And will have to do a search on here to find out more about them.
Thanks Everyone,
Char
Gosh! Sorry I haven't been watching this thread, I didn't realize it was still going!
Well, here is my escargot rooting attempt, I just cut off an "arm" and stuck it in some dirt and put a plastic baggie over the whole thing....it took about 2 weeks or so, but it is very well rooted, even has roots all along the stem!!
Here is the pic and you can see all the roots along the stem....
Raven
wow that's really something. I thought it was supposed to talke 6-8 weeks like AVs. WTG Raven!
Way to go! That's amazing. Now I definitely am going to find another one. (I've killed 2 already.) As long as I can keep a backup going by rooting stems, there is hope. :^)
2 weeks???
It's not fair that things grow so fast in Oregon, LOL.
Gosh, I had no clue that they DIDN'T root that fast....it wasn't just a leaf, it's part of the trunk...?...stem...? I don't know what it's called, the thick part of the stem that the leaves grow from.
What part have you all been trying to root with?
Raven
not yet, but I was thinking of a leaf w/ 2-3" of stem.
Go for it.
Oh, I see the difference now. I have been rooting the leaf petiole, not the stem/rhizome of the plant. I might try that later if my plant gets tall and leggy. It does not take all that long for roots to appear, but it does take forever (it seems) for the new little plantlets to pop up and take off. I leave the old leaf on as long as I can stand it (looks bad) to help provide photosynthesis for the new plantlet(s).
Well, I have great news. WalMart in the south has them. They had about 50 at Ga exit 104 off I-95 yesterday. $3.97 each. It's hard to remember which ones you do and don't have when you haven't seen em for a week. I will definately have some for the swap May 21st. here.
Get to WM, if they don't have them, talk to Manager. Insist he/she NEEDS Painted Begonias, or else! lol. I'll sort mine and post pictures later.
Great thread. I tried slicing and dicing with reasonable success.
I got a couple of Escargot leaves last October. I cut them into about 2" squares and stuck them in potting soil. I used 4" pots and covered them with newspaper plastic wrappers. Here is the result. I am not sure how many cuttings I started with, and doing income taxes for a living they were really totally on their own from January through April.
