The Ho-Hum dreary days of winter

Brings on indoor gardening. Here's a few of my begonias that I've been playing with since the cold weather came on. Most are terrarium grown.

This one is Begonia serratipetala growing in a 10" ball terrarium. The plants to the left are babies I rooted from the mother plants in the ball. They were pushing the top of the terrarium so I lopped them off, put them in Dixie cups with 100% barely moist chopped NZ sphag and then placed in large ziplock baggies. They then went into my indoor covered plant stand (looks like this http://www.storesonline.com/members/758739/uploaded/grow-rack.jpg) which stays quite a bit warmer inside due to the lights installed inside it.

This message was edited Dec 12, 2006 1:33 PM

Here are the two pots of babies (I think there are two cuttings in each pot) And I believe I started them about a month ago - they're pretty well rooted already and ready to transfer into their own terrarium.

This one is B. 'Heavy Metal' - I cant find any data on the parentage in the ABS data base but haven't tried a web search yet.

edited to say that I keep this one in the same mini greenhouse, top shelf which has a mini fan running. I keep it on the dry side but the relative humidity inside the greenhouse is between 70-80% when it's zipped up. Since our humidity is generally 50% or lower here the greenhouses help keep things from getting too crispy. I grow almost all of my episcia in there as well.



This message was edited Dec 12, 2006 1:22 PM

Here's a bugger of a Begonia for me to grow. This is B. incisa (sometimes mistakenly id'ed as B. polilloensis because they look very similar) this is a Philippine species that requires pretty high humidity. I received these cuttings from a friend in a few months ago. It's rooted and happy now, but I don't remove it from it's ziplock baggie (except for it's cameo appearance here of course). It also grows in the mini greenhouse. I've killed B. polilloensis several times before so I'm pretty tickled to have this one thriving now. Lack of proper humidity did the last ones in.

Begonia bipinnatifida. These cuttings lost most of their leaves while rooting and what you see is mostly new growth. Whew! This is another that requires pretty high humidity.

Another one where success eluded me for a long time was this one, Begonia brevirimosa. Finally found the right combination of soil and growing environment to keep this one not only happy but thriving. I grow it in a fish tank terrarium with a domed lid and fluorescent lighting. I had a standard 3" dome but it pushed that one right off and I went to a tall dome from our local hydroponic store in San Francisco (not too far from GG park http://www.plantitearth.com/ ). This plant was given to me by a friend who can grow them like weeds!

Here's a close up of the leaf pattern.

And the whole enchilada. (is that a left coast saying?)

This one is B. imperialis x B. fusca (very odd cross to me but it works!) The leaves are nearly white. Very reflective and shimmery. (note the brown tips due to low humidity before I moved it to the mini greenhouse.

Here's a close up of the leaf surface.

Oh My - those are all pretty, but that last one is gorgeous!!! As for the "saying" - we use it here a lot, too ;-)

Edited to add: Well, you managed to get two posts in before my one. Anyway, love the brevirimosa (SP?).

This message was edited Dec 12, 2006 3:51 PM

Love that brevirimosa! Yours looks really nice. Mine has totally defoliated. It looks like I should plunk it in an aquarium ASAP.

You have picked some difficult ones there. How is growing bipinnatifida vs. incisa for you? I have never tried those two.

Do you still have Rajah? I have a leaf of it rooted but I wonder how long it will take to send up some new babies.

Serratipetala is growing like weeds for me and I think it can take the basement air better than I previously thought since I have two new offsets growing with only the benefit of a pebble tray.

Begonia polygonoides. An African species - trailing/scandens type. I keep it in the mini greenhouse but I suspect it will do ok outside of it. I keep it on the dry side as well.

Yeah, whole enchilada is pretty universal.

Begonia 'Kismet' a sweet little one. (I think Rob's Violets sells this one)

This one is for you Butch. Begonia 'Flamingo Queen' - Dots Galore!

edited to correct the name

This message was edited Dec 13, 2006 8:28 AM

And another leaf shot of 'Flamingo Queen'

edited to correct the name

This message was edited Dec 13, 2006 8:29 AM

Here's how I grow 'Flamingo' - I'm so afraid of losing it. I got it as a cutting a few months back. So it went into a 30/30/30 mix and promptly into a bag. It's been there ever since. I just clipped it to one of my grow carts. So far so good. But I dare not take her out of the bag! The longest leaf is about 9 inches - give or take. It doesn't seem to mind hanging out with African violets and petrocosmea.

I think B. incisa is more vigorous and so far less temperamental than B. bipinnatifida. And I killed at least 6 B. brevirimosa (or those others that look just like it - B. exotica etc) before I got this one to grow. When Morris gave it to me, I said 'Say good bye! I've killed all the others' and he gave me this look like 'You better not!' so on my life I've got to keep it happy! LOL.
It did lose several lower leaves but then put on at least 3 inches up top.

One caveat - for the most part these are not what I would consider begonias for the beginner. All (at least to me) are the diva's of the begonia world and require a lot more attention than my others.

LOL, good to know Enchiladas are universal! Thanks for the comments Stownes!

edited to say Flamingo Queen's parents are in fact B. U078 x Lenore Olivier, not what I had posted earlier.

This message was edited Dec 13, 2006 8:29 AM

Another that's pushing the lid off. Begonia metachroa. This is a pretty easy one. I keep it elevated on a heating mat.

here's it's side view. It doesn't have the most interesting leaves but the red stems are somewhat nifty.

Begonia vellozoana (I've seen is spelled velloziana as well). Note all the leaf damage - the handiwork of one caterpillar! Squish! No, only kidding, I threw it out side, only to keep seeing the damage continue. Last week I found a doodle bug at the base of the rhizome! Grrrr. Well, it's happy enough despite being eaten! This one grows in a basket of chopped sphag in a strawberry basket inside a 10" ball fruit ripener.

This one - which has a tough leathery leaf is Begonia attenuata (syn B. lanceolata) grows in a jar without it's lid in a strawberry basket of chopped sphag. They seem to thrive on the humidity but prefer to be on the dryer side.

This one seems pretty happy in a deli container with a slurpee lid. Begonia microsperma (which I believe is syn B. ficiola? have to go look that one up)

Close up of the leaf hair. I also think this is one of the parents to B. 'Buttercup'

Here's an older photo of B. 'Buttercup' when it was budded.

Butch here's B. rajah you asked about. You know, it defoliated almost down to one nub of a rhizome so I'm surprised that it's come back like it has.
This is my biggie ball terrarium. It has B. U074 blooming in the front, (going counter clock-wise from U074) then B. rajah, hiding just under a leaf is B. quadrialata subsp. nimbaensis, the strappy leaf one in the back is either B. herbaceae or another B. vellozoana, and B. ficiola.

That B. U074 came from the Miami show almost a year ago. I grew it in an orange juice cup from a bakery across from my hotel for about 9 months and it was happy as a clam. Then I moved it to this ball terrarium and it just about died. It had one rhizome left and the leaves were melting like snow. So I trimmed a few back and stuck them into the sphag and what you see is what came up from those few leaves. It just pouted about being moved I suspect. Here's what is 'should' look like (someday! I can always dream can't I?) http://swregion.tripod.com/uxxx/spic_uxxx/U074MT.jpg

Here's another B. rajah (center) that I started. It's just a slow as molasses begonia. (that's B. 'Buttercup' at the top-left and a few other terrarium buddies, Ficus quercifolia, a mini-sinningia 'Tinkerbells' just bouncing back out of dormancy - in the bare spot at the 4 o'clock position, a tiny epicia 'Silver Skies' in front)

Great begonias. I have several but not too many of what you have p[osted. I do have flamingo Queen and it does very well in a hanging basket on the porch. Our humidity must be what they like here in Texas because I have never kept one in a terrarium.

Tami

Begoniacrazii ...... Wow! You really are Begonia Crazy! What Gorgeous plants! What type of soil do you use for growing all those Beauties?? And, is that regular Spaghnum Moss I see on the top of the soil? I have a couple of Begonias, the cane type and I love them. One of my cane begonias that was ID'd here on Dave's as 'Benigo', I have had for years. I just love 'Heavy Metal', 'Incisa' and 'Bipinnitifada', and 'Kismet', and 'Flamingo Queen'! Oh, they are just all so beautiful .... Makes me want to go right out and start a collection of Begonias! I might just have to head on over to Rob's Violet website and start ordering! LOL.

Thanks for all those really nice photo's!

Lin

**blushing** Gee thanks Lin and Tami!

Tami you are fortunate to have high enough humidity. I grew up in Houston, so I recall how tropical it can be!! Great for growing things! I can grow cane begonias outside just fine, and they do get a bit crispy on the edges if I am not diligent in watering or misting on those days when it gets to 115 with something like 20% humidity. I kept this one enclosed because the leaves (which are sooo big) were just to perfect to allow to get brown and crisp. Didn't want to take any chances. =º)

Lin, thanks for your compliments! I use NZ milled sphag that I get from an orchid supply place online. He sells it as compressed cubes (about the size of those wooden ABC play blocks we all had as kids) I put it in a Tupperware container and add very hot water and they expand to about 3 times their compressed size. Once it expands, I 'fluff' it up. I like to propagate most of my gesneriads (Kohleria, episcia, diastema etc) this way. They root like mad and then I transplant into a soil blend of 33% each peat, perlite and vermiculite.
Ahhh but I digress... (before I get back on track, here's the link for the sphag http://www.camponeorchids.com/supersphag.html I like them because I can store it in a small area vs. a bale or bag of the stuff. It's much neater too, not crumbling and loose, also Jason the owner is very good to work with!!)

The soil blend I use for begonias is different. I failed miserably many times before I learned that the soil I need for my climate and conditions needs lots of 'pockets' of air for the roots.
So I use micro orchid bark, perlite and a bit of play sand in my mix. I have a handful of vintage begonia growing books and the consensus amongst all is that they like the pockets (for lack of a better term). They like fast draining soil and don't like wet feet, so however that is achieved is great. I know everyone uses a different blend.

You are also fortunate to live in a humid growing area. I cant grow Benigo very well. It's too dry here (ok, what I mean is in the summer, we've had about 6 days of rain now! so not so dry!!LOL). I grow it, and I struggle with it and other mallet types (see bradsbegoniaworld.com for more info on what mallet types are if you're not sure) but they don't like me, I pull my hair out and then try again -total glutton for punishment. I've seen some real beauties - at the Miami convention and in Southern Cali but up here it's sooo Mediterranean they just don't like it.

Canes and rhizomatous are a different story. They do great so long as they are not the ones above! Those are terrarium species for sure!

So Lin, pull up a chair and put your feet up! It wont be long before you collection grows and grows. Especially with places like Palm Hammock in Miami and others that sell such great selections! Greg Stych is in Florida and he's a great contact for you if you really want to get going! dmail me if you are unable to find his email. I have it somewhere...
He'll sell you cuttings for a pretty good price to get you obsession...er...uh... collection going. (wink wink) Not to mention most of us here are pretty good at addiction support! =º)

(shown B. goegoensis, a Philippine species)

I don't know how I missed this thread. Lali, some beauties you have there. Like
everyone else I love the brevirimosa, incisa, Flamingo Queen.
Kismet is special too. Very impressive goegoensis.

Jackie

Thanks so much Jackie! I'm pretty tickled to have brevirimosa growing. keeping fingers crossed that it stays happy! I've sent my fair share of them out to the compost bin!
Kismet is a cutie pie. It's a small grower!
Poor goegoensis, it's not a happy camper. I down potted it and stripped it of its old soil back in October. It has perked back up, but it was definitely throwing a temper tantrum there for a while. Primarily the wrong soil and lack of humidity over the summer in my greenhouse were the problems. It's in the mini greenhouse inside now so hopefully with some more TLC it will come around again.

Lali, Your goegoensis is just amazing. Please send pics when your yellow flowered start blooming.

Jackie

Your goegoensis looks a lot better than mine. I don't think mine enjoyed the summer as much as I thought it would. Now that all the old leaves are gone, it is putting on some new leaves which is encouraging. I got mine from Hortus Botanicus and it came in almost perfect condition. It's a shame they don't offer much in the way of begonias though.

Mine came from Hortus as well and it dure does not look that good now. Kell and I keep making noise about doing a road trip up that way and going to the Mendocino botanical garden and Albany nurseries too.
We need to drag Sue with us!
Jackie, 'Buttercup' just finished blooming and I didn't get a good shot. So far that's the only one who has bloomed for me. It appears to have selfed and has a seed pod! Wonder if I can get them to sprout.

Since they are in terrariums they don't require watering very often therefor they don't get much fertilizer. I feed them Peters via a salon hair dye applicator bottle. that way I can get the fertilizer right at the soil line and dribble it a bit on the foliage.

Let me know how the seed goes. I have several seed pods (some on Rajah) that I've thought about planting but really don't have time to play with them. Let me amend that - I had some seed pods until I just dumped the plant on the floor. Luckily no broken leaves or stems but seedpods are gone.

Butch, Get down on the floor and find those seedpods please. LOL
Some of us might have wanted to hit you up for a few seeds. If it has to be
terrarium grown, then I won't bug you for seeds.
Lali, I do hope you try planting Buttercup seeds. I saw your babies you had grown in a small
plastic container, they looked great. I can't grow the yellow blooming cause I am no
good with terrariums. I wonder if you could plant the seeds in a mix or would you
have to use the long fibered spagnum moss?

Jackie

I have asked my "Santa" for a 10 gal aquarium for Christmas .... he asked me what I was going to put in it since we already have a 150 gal Marine (Salt Water) tank. I told him it isn't for fish but for plants! He gave me a strange look and just said, ooook. So, I had to explain to him how you plant a terrarium! LOL. I'm pretty sure I will get what I want for Christmas!

Lin