frustrated over lack of sources

I am looking for particular varieties and having no luck. If anyone knows where I could get the cane begonia 'California Dreamin' I would be most grateful. It has lovely orange-red flowers. And Logees is out of 'my special angel.' From the looks of some of the recent posts I should start haunting Home Depot and Wal Mart although it is still chilly here in CT so I am not sure if they have much in the way of tender plants. Pic of the begonias in question can be found at this wonderful person's site:

http://www.pbase.com/missy_gardenwhimsy/angel_wing_begonias

thanks!

Linda

Linda,

Good luck on haunting (funny way of saying hunting?) some of the ones shown at Miss Whimsy's site. You may have to trade with people to get exactly what you want or settle for one of several look alikes (many canes look alike).

You might try flying to CA and visit Hi-Mark nurseries since they no longer do mail order.

http://64.227.196.146/catalog/catalog.htm

You might try Lauray of Salisbury since they are in your state and offer quite a variety at a decent price although for mail orders they can be slow and the plants are quite small.

http://www.lauray.com/

Palm Hammock has quite a selection as well. I got 'My Special Angel' there last year. Their mail order can be slow as well and sometimes gets things wrong. If you could visit in person, you won't be disappointed. This is the second year in a row I've been there.

http://members.tripod.com/~PalmHammockOrchidEst/begmasterpage.html

There is Kartuz in CA. Again slow but they offer a lot of varieties not found elsewhere.

http://www.kartuz.com/mm5/merchant.mvc

Glasshouse Works in OH has a big selection but always get something wrong. They include freebies/bonuses as a way to say "Sorry"?

Make sure you click on the slow connection, then navigate to the "B" section. This way you can click on the thumbnails and get a pop up of the picture. If you go with the broadband connection and you click on any thumbnails you will immediately go back to the top of the page (YUK) unless they fixed it recently.

http://www.glasshouseworks.com/

Anyway join the crowd.

Butch

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've ordered from glasshouse works and yes, they were imperfect. I have already visited the Kartuz wbsite and was disappointed at their scarcity of pictures. I'll check into the others although flying to CA isn't currently an option. I have been going to Logees for years (since college) and it seems to me their current web selection is a shadow of what they used to have on their benches. I ought to drive up there again soon but with FT job, young kids...well, the web often gets things to me faster!

I really need to take pics of the begonias I have right now, it's so rewarding to hob nob with fellow begonia lovers....I know I have Fireworks, a huge brother montgomery, two face...some pink leafed ones I can't recall. I will look tonight.

Hi Linda,

We love hobnobbing. Show us what you've got. I think we're all a bunch of sick puppies here when it comes to begonias.

Sounds like you've been to several of the sites already so I'm not sure what you expected.

If you think Kartuz is lacking in pictures then wait until you see Lauray - they have nada, zilch. You definitely need to know the names for some of these beauties.

It's a lot better to buy in person - you get an idea how big they are or can become, texture, nuances, etc. - plus they're bigger and cheaper and you pick out the best of the litter. But if you can't do that, then mail order will have to suffice.

Anyway good luck on shopping on line. Have you tried eBay as well? It's a hit or miss thing but another good avenue.

Butch

There are a couple of other begonias to be found at
http://www.plantsforkids.com/index.html

There are several more sources but a lot smaller selection. Try Accents for Home and Garden, Plant Safari, Rob's Violets, PDN, Heronswood, Brad Thompson has a link page, etc., ad nauseum.