Hi There,
I am fairly new to begonias. I do a lot of coleus and many other plants. In my travels through nurseries for my landscaping business I found a "brazilian begonia". The tag has virtually no information other than the name and the word "shade". I have it outside right now because it is fairly warm and humid here. Downright steamy actually. Anybody have one of these and can give me some pointers? It has some lovely little white blooms right now.
Thanks for any help,
Juanita
Brazilian Begonia ?
Do you have a photo of it Juanita?
There is a commercialy grown one named b. 'Manaus' which is a hybrid from a Brazilian species. It's a trailing type.
This is what it looks like. Does seem to have a bit of a trailing thing starting. I appreciate your help.
Juanita
Juanita
Your plant is gorgous !
Sorry I can't help you much I'm not a Begonia know it all expert,
Mine just seem to grow and grow I love them for their easy
care ! And of course their beauty !
Juanita, yours looks like the one I have too. Just named 'Brazilian species'. There is a Brazilian sp. called Begonia U002.
You and I probably have it or a hybrid of it (such as Manaus). It's a humidity lover and will likely do great for you in your steamy situation.
It will need protection in the winter.
If dont know if you know what the name "U002" means, it is the name given a species until it is postively identified and then given it's proper botanical name. We were discussing this in another thread.
What kind of soil is it growing in? One more question, on the tag, does it say who the grower is?
Soli-mutata is a Brazilian species, too.
yea, that's right. I forgot about Soli. Do you think that's what it is?
No, I'm pretty sure it is not soli, but not sure about Manaus either. Something in between?
Reminds me of the heated debate about names on the Yahoo group (remember Lloyd's naming of the U002 hybrid to 'Amnesia'). I have the same one from Athens Selects and it was called 'Bonita Shea'. Not sure about the statement that you couldn't kill it either. I may have but I haven't checked in several weeks either.
Way too many to keep up with and nothing in the immediate future of a greenhouse so I hate thinking about dragging them all back into the basement and garage late October.
Hey Folks,
There is absolutely nothing on the tag. It seems to be planted in a regular potting mix. I was just going to treat it as a houseplant and bring it inside for winter.
Thanks for all the info,
Juanita
I would probably keep it in a terrarium in the house to give it plenty of humidity.
Juanita it's a beautiful plant. It looks like it may need a bigger pot before too long. I love the leaf colors.
Lin
I remember the heated discussion about Amnesia.
I'm hear ya on the draggin' in for winter part. Mine all have to find a new home too. I've just about doubled my collection this year and not sure where they will live. The green house was already full last winter! I ended up hauling a dozen spider plant volunteers out to fend for themselves last winter. All of them made it back so they can give up their seat for a begonia this winter. (I still have about another dozen volunteers. They're brats, planting themselves in every pot!)
I agree on the humidity part, I think it wants more than I can offer inside, I moved mine to the garden where the other rexies live for summer.
Juanita it is a beauty! I would watch to make sure it isn't getting over watered. sometimes commercial soils have a lot of peat and hold too much water. that's why I asked what it's mix was. I'm sure you'll do fine with it. It looks happy!
I notice people mentioning the Yahoo Group. What is that?
ARG!! Lost all that I typed in again.
Dancey,
Here is the link to join the Yahoo group. Yahoo has many interest groups including begonias. You have to be a member to see the pictures which only comes in via email. Membership is free though.
You can see the posts online but I prefer just having it arrive in my inbox (although sometimes it doesn't get delivered or comes out of sequence).
The drawback is new members cannot see any of the old pictures - bummer. There is one member who will sell you a CD collection of all the old posts which include the pictures for a small fee. Some pictures aren't all that great but some are very inspiring which enables the addiction (you've been duly warned). The dialogue gets off base at times as with any group but it usually clears up after a week or two.
Here is the link to Join the group.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Begonias/