Anyone see a Begonia luxurians like this one??

I was at Berkeley Hort today and went WOW!

Do you think it is just a real mature old one? I googled it looking for a similar leaf but none of the Begonia luxurians looked like this.

Truly amazing!!

Really cool looking mop head!

Wow .It looks like a a cross between a poinsettia and begonia. Mop head would be a good name for it.. LOL

Wow, that's amazing!

It looks like it's been grown 'hard'.

It is huge too though the sign by it says it only grows to 4 ft. This one is about 10 ft or so.

I tried growing that sucka twice and failed miserably both times....I'm betting I didn't give it enough light....looks like that one's been getting *plenty* of light!

And that baby didn't come home with YOU? Come heck or highwater, that gal would have been in my Beetle!!

Looks a bit mutant-ish if you ask me. All curly leaved and what not.

I bought a little cutting at the convention in Florida that's rooted nicely. It was labeled 'b. listata' but is clearly not. And I know the difference too, I must have been in a begonia enduced haze, would you agree Butch?

Mine get to look like that when they're getting a lot of sun. But it doesn't look like that one is getting sun. I haven't taken pictures them because I thought it looked kinda odd.

Here it is towering over the eaves.

Laurie,

Have you ever passed up a begonia - in a daze (or haze) or not?

Julie,

Cool picture. How big is it now?

If you keep it pruned, does it produce bigger stems and leaves?

Great picture Jooolster. I think being so odd or different is what makes it so special. It is a eye catcher.

I am surprised Kell passed it up too. LOL
Patti

This message was edited Apr 3, 2006 2:10 PM

Not often Butch! Only if it's one of those PM magnets! LOL. got enough of them for now.

hey Jooolz, tell Mike to put his party shorts on for photo ops!

It definitely has a mind of its own. Here it is a couple years ago, I think. Right now it looks awful. I don't really know what to tell you about care. I'm going to try cutting it back again and see what happens. I have another in the front that looked very nice last year and now it has two stalks about 8' high.

jooolster....*that* looks awful???
Not in my opinion.....fabulous (and just what I dreamed of seeing before I killed the other two, lol!)
They obviously like CA better than WI !!!!

The only reasons Kell passed it up is:

A-it's the nurseries display one, I saw it last week, it's very high on my wish list!
B- she already has one ....no wait, that's never stopped her before!

LOL

Sound like Calif_Sue has Kell pegged. LOL

Jooslter it's beautiful .

This message was edited Apr 3, 2006 3:57 PM

Joolz, the one in the arboretum in SFO is at least 8' tall but just mostly stalks, not a lot of foliage. Would you say that if would appreciate being pinched back? i.e. to give it a bit more of a bushy effect?

Yes, cut it back, Laurie. Even then it doesn't always branch that well. But at least you can propagate the tops and get some new ones.

Have you read my question in the Propagation forum yet?

Jooolz

no, going there now to read it.

Oh WOW Jooolster, I love yours so much. I wonder if I dare plant mine in the ground. It did live outside all winter and did quite well. But I had no frost this year. It is getting drowned right now. I should probably move it to drier place. Is yours in full sun.

Well Sue does have me so pegged. I am a plant pig. No doubt about it. I would have grabbed it but it is part of their display and when they caught me digging it up they tossed me out.

LOL! Hey Kell you ready for the north bay nursery juant yet? I'm still thinking about that hibiscus.

By the way, I bought a iochroma (I think) that blooms blueish-purple. I got it half price at a nursery that changed hands. (now called 'Dig') and I'm hoping you or one of your brug-head friends can help this begonia-head out. I'll shoot a photo later and show it to you.

No tag on the pot =º(

Lali, was it this one?
I have had mine in a 5 gal pot next to the fence all winter, part sun in the AM, no fertilizer yet and it's been blooming and growing taller for months now. I am surprised at how easy it's been actually.

This message was edited Apr 3, 2006 10:33 PM

Are there any nurseries up north where they sell a lot of begonias? I really need to see and get more, hard to tell from online sources. I am wanting to see whole displays like what they had at that nursery in FL and So. Calif.

Oh Lali, I want to go too! I hate going too far though in this rain. We we get a dry day. I wish you could go on a Saturday though. During the week the traffic is so bad.

Isn't the big sale at the Arboretum this weekend? I may go to the one at Lakeshore. Are you going to the one in San Francisco? Maybe you could buy me a Vireya or 2 or 3.

When are you going? I am too chicken to drive in the sity.

Sue, I have no clue. I met a lady last week or so and she said there was a huge begonia place in Soquel.

Sue, there is a wholesale nursery (mostly perennials) in St. Helena that might entertain a galloping gardener group. They sell primarily rexies in 4"' (I've seen them at Sloat's recently) the story goes, they bought a private collection from a woman in the north bay and now propagate but don't really care to put the correct names on them They have started giving them names of their own choosing. For example, I bought a Little Brother Montgomery and it is labeled "Jeremy",

Oddly enough, I had heard that they 'inherited' the collection, but when I went to the national convention last month in FL, I met the woman who sold her collection to them. She was a true collector and I'm sure they have a wonderful selection. But they just don't care to put the right names on them. ALL that I have from them are mislabeled like that.

They also sell to the Santa Rosa Yardbirds. Nice rexies, just wrong names.

Kell I can go to the hibiscus nursery on just about any Sat. now. Just those last few weeks I had commitments.

for the SFO sale, We could meet outside the city and I'll drive us in, then we can go to Lakeshore? Just a thought? I don't mind driving at all. AND I wont bring the beetle if you come with me. I'll bring the Durango!! or truck and horse trailer! (for you to load up with plants!)

Now on to the Iochroma. Yours looks like a similar color but the skirts on my flowers are much more flared. Take a look.

Here's a shot of the underpants (sorry for the blurr, note the wine in the background, well last night my friend who works for them brought over a Cab, Merlot and Zin. What could I do?) kidding folks!

here's another one that I bought the day we went to the Garden Show at the Cow Palace. I bought this and a begonia for Butch.

this one is marked Iochroma cyerna (sp?) 'Burgundy'

It's loaded with buds and both are blooming now. I know nothing about them but I think I'll cross post to the brug head forum and see when they like to bloom etc..

I'm pretty sure that's the Acnistus australis Syn: Iochroma australis. Check it in the alphabetical listing in Annie's Annuals. Gets big.
http://anniesannuals.com/signs/list/parent_redirect.htm
By the way, her website is updated now, under the alphabetical she now has the thumbnail images and direct links to add things to your wish list.

So if one was interested in more than the rexies, canes and such, nothing around the Bay Area? What's the best mail order, reasonably priced and sized?
I NEED that luxurians! I do think I will see if I can get my friend from Monterey Bay Nursery to get me this one
http://www.montereybaynsy.com/B/begonia_carolinifolia1.jpg
B. carolinifolia , "about 2' tall, its long, sinister, pointed, serrated, claw like leaflets hang down to 10" for a wonderful tropical effect, though it is actually listed as root hardy to USDA zone 9/Sunset zone 8. It greatly resembles the larger, very magnificent B. luxurians except instead of being a tender shrub t grows as a stemless or prostrate perennial, bearing its huge leaves on long, robust upright petioles." Doesn't it just sound perfect?! Well, except that it says snails like it.

Oh man, it's just pouring cats and dogs here, I am so tired of this rain!



Iochroma australis, picture taken at Annie's

Oh and as soon as we get decent weather, we can plan these trips, I love driving, prefer it to being a passenger and the city doesn't bother me as long as I have a map, actually my GPS. And I can carry 7 passengers and lots of plants. :-)

Mmmm, wine, we really should be living in the wine country, we collect them, have about 20 cases in our wine cabinet right now, belong to 4 wine clubs and hubby reads all about wine making constantly, he should have gone into that business, he would have been good at it with his keen nose, he knows a grape by taste.

Ok, back to begonias, and wish lists. And hoping for sunshine.

It looks like my old acnistus that I grew from seed which is hardy in our area. Shame more people don't know about it.

A picture of it with variegated arundo donax and a giant yucca flower spike at my old house.

LOL Lali, maybe Little Brother Montgomery's name was "Jeremy!"

I had the purple lochroma like yours Lali. It was way too floppy for me. But............. I saw a huge tree of it at Berkeley Hort and it was amazing................. a very tall standard. Otherwise htey do not really get me going. I had aoubt 4 of htem and dug them a couple of years ago. They took up too much room.

Well lets plan a Saturday for hibiscus. And............ where could we meet? And do I have to be a member??

Oh Kell, forgot to answer on the Soquel begonia place, she was probably thinking of the one that burned down, that's the town it was in.

Well I started my thread long, long ago then got sidetracked with a phone call. So I missed your posts Sue....... if there is a quake and no water available, I know whose house I am heading too...... why worry about water when you can have wine!!

Your plant looks so different then mine did hcmcdole. Mine held its blooms in clusters. Yours looks like a neat shrub. Mine was all over.

Oh..................... shoot, Sue. She is the lady that told me to make a beeline to Half Moon Bay Nursery Exchange. They have everything wholesale and sell to all the nurseries. Look at the plants you see up at all the nurseries. Lots are tagged the Half Moon Bay nursery exchange. All we need is a resale number. We can pay the tax.

Kell, dmail me your addy or at least the city, I'll googlemap it from there as to where we could meet up that would be convenient to both of us. No you don't have to be a member, and if we have time, we should hit the conservatory. I always get a good drool going when I go. No plant sales though (bummer) just trinkets.

Sue? you up for the sale?

I think that I. grandi is the closest. I measured the flowers and they are at least 2.5 inches long. not including the bract.

Ahh, didn't catch that they were flustered blooms, just looked at Kartuz site and tha sure looks right.
http://www.kartuz.com/c/7RFPJ/Iochroma.html

When is the SF sale?


I agree, we need a wholesale liscense.

Sue this is the big sale.............. and the big one at Lakeside too. I would have heart palpations going to the 2 plus the Conservatory. I already am feeling faint. I want some Vireyas and I do not even know how to pronouce their name. LOL

I was thinking of joining the Lakeside one just to get to go to the preview. Can you take friends if you join??

Butch, Some people do know about the Iochroma's and Acnistus australis.
About 2 months ago on the brug forum, there was a link to one of the above
plants that sold for between 300.00 and 400.00 on E-bay. Seeds are
hard to find now. Lady Seymours and Thompson-Morgan no
longer carry them.

Jackie

WHEN??
I am so ready to go to ANY nursery at this point, the Half Moon Bay one has been calling to me. And it just keeps raining...

Kell,

Mine is acnistus australis which I bought some seed from T&M on a lark (I found out it has been since been moved to the iochroma family).

I see that iochroma does have clustered flowers whereas acnistus blooms all along the branches.