This is 'Jeopardy' which I got from our local begonia chapter a couple of years ago. The new leaves are nothing like the adult leaves.
The Ho-Hum dreary days of winter
B. carolineifolia and 'Big Mac' to the right of it are limping along.
What are the white dots on this leaf of 'Bashful Bandit'? Are these the stomata?
Here are two starts of 'Bashful Bandit' and 'Black Magic' (in the front with hairy leaves) in the same cup. I do double, triple duty on a lot of starter cups.
Here is the lazy way to propagate. I started some canes over but instead of throwing out the older sections I just laid them in a pan horizontally. Talk about tenacious!
Butch, Love Jeopardy, Last Laugh and Bashful Bandit. All gorgeous begonia's.
I have never seen so much hair on a begonia in all my life. LOL Want to see Black Velvet
after the lvs get larger. Deco Devilty looks like it's going to have beautiful colors too.
Don't know about the white dots on Bashful Bandit which doesn't seem to take anything
away from the beauty of that spectacular leaf. Seems like the cork sounds familiar,
bet we could find something on that by googling.
Jackie
Hi Jackie,
'Black Velvet' looks nothing like the emerging leaves - i.e. not much hair. 'Deco Deviltry' is more drab in its grown up life but still hard to get rid of. As for the cork, this is the weirdest begonia. It reminds me of heracleifolia but the fingers are more crinkly and serrated. Again not the prettiest plant but you just hate to throw out anything if you can avoid it.
Here is 'Black Velvet' as an adult.
Here is 'Deco Deviltry' at its height.
'Bashful Bandit' was a must-have after seeing one on the Yahoo group. I bought it at PHOE two years ago and thought I was close to losing it last winter but it came through. Now I am busy starting several new ones.
Here it is in early October with 'Joe Hayden' top right and 'Black Coffee' lower right. The color is a dark plum but comes close to black under certain lighting conditions.
Butch, Black Velvet is a beauty, even without all that hair. Deco does fade out as you
said but still a nice begonia. The dark plum does make Bashful Bandit look almost black.
Love that one.
What new goodies did you purchase?
Jackie
Jackie, I got 16 from Rob's, 6 from Plants for Kids, and 5 from Logee's. Rob's has added some more to their site and the price has gone up a little. I got several rexes from Rob's including 'Maid Marion', 'Pandora', 'Vista', 'Halleulujah', 'Tempest', and 'Beau Rouge'. The others were 'Black Raspberry', 'Baby Dress', 'Last Laugh', 'Kismet', 'Fairyland', 'McCann', 'Geometry', 'Chantilly Lace', 'Jabberwocky', and 'Lime Swirl'.
From PFK I got 'Atlanta Jazz', 'Savannah Pink Parfait', 'Seattle Twist', 'New Orleans Masquerade', 'Charlotte Chiffon', and 'Denver Lace'. Some aren't as pretty as the pictures but hopefully they will get better as they age.
Finally, from Logee's it was 'Taurus', 'Raspberry Swirl', 'Midnight Sun', 'Good 'N Plenty', and 'Fireflush. Hopefully I will have better luck with these 5 this time around.
Here is Kismet and Vista.
Wow - you've been a busy bee! Great begonia babies!!!
thanks for sharing your photos.
Quite a haul Butch. I need some new pretties too to cheer me up. I ordered from
Select Seeds and working on an order to Mr Hudson Seedsman but I need something
from Logees. I want Pink Minx and a few others..
I killed my Mignight sun and Good n Plenty. Think I lost Midnight sun in the summer heat.
Have you tried Midnight Sun before?
Jackie
This is my 3rd Midnight Sun. I promise to pay more attention to this one. Good N Plenty is the secod time. I finally got the hang of Pink Minx. I would wait and see if you can get it on eBay. I picked up 3 cuttings of it twice on eBay and paid less than ordering it from anywhere else.
I already picked up about 30+ seed packs and a handful of succulents from Wal-Mart but I may order some more from T&M (even though I haven't had the best of luck with their seed - old I think) and Parks (usually pretty good). I also picked up a 'Black Lace' sambucus and contorted filbert two weekends ago. Cabin fever has set in. Three more months to go.
I've been growing Midnight Sun for a while now and so far so good. It seems happy where it is.
I hear you about the cabin fever! We actually hit a balmy 62º today, which is a pleasant change from that morning when it was 17º just over a week ago. Brrrr.
(photo is from this last summer)
Laurrie, Nice Midnight Sun and it looks great.
Butch, I agree that sometimes T and M's seeds are old. I have only bought a few seeds off the
rack so far, mostly morning glory's. I have tons of seed ordered over the yrs from
different places, mostly tropicals and exotics. They're aging fast so I feel guilty when I buy even more. There's no way I can plant all of them, just buying them before I can't find a
source.
We haven't seen the sun here since Friday before last, a long 11 days ago.
Highs 38 to 42, so tired of it.
Think spring
Jackie
Lali,
Nice looking Midnight Sun. My previous two looked good at times and then bottoms up. I may go terrarium on this one.
Seventeen is getting down there. We had teens back before Thanksgiving which is kind of rare. We are cold a few days, warm a few days, etc. Let's move to the tropics!
Jackie,
I don't have tons of seed anymore. I might have a few packs that are several months old. Last May I took all the seed I could find and scattered it in my garden. If it came up - fine, if it didn't then at least I got rid of it. My mother gathered a lot of red hot poker seeds off of her plants and I threw them out there as well. Now I have a few hundred red hot pokers about six inches high.
I no longer sow seeds indoors either - too much trouble transplanting and watering. I will try some tiny seed indoors soon though but don't want what I used to do which was dozens and dozens of seed trays. I sowed some gloxinia seed I harvested off one of my (now deceased) plants and had hundreds of seedlings, but dropped the whole pot which did most of that batch in. The glox seed I ordered from T&M with visions of sugar plums in my head never materialized - I chalked it up to old seed. Same for begonias. The best luck I had with begonias was a rex mix from Parks years ago.
The last seed I grew in pots was castor bean and datura ordered off ebay this past year. I sowed two seeds each of the castor beans (3 different types) and got them all up. I moved those indoors since I sowed them so late and 2 out of 3 have set seed which looks viable. I am waiting on the third one to mature so I can harvest that seed as well. The datura is just sitting there waiting for warmer days.
Anyway I've learned to not jump the gun on seed sowing. I used to sow it very early and then have a leggy mess by the time the weather warmed up.
Here is mini-perba back in September.
'Suzanna' which was bought off eBay as 3 cuttings. 'Pink Minx', 'Aya', and some other canes were started this way as well.
Butch, Suzanna is really pretty. Wonder who the hybridizer is? I like
everything about mini-perba, the size, color and leaf shape. Looks like it
tends to make a nice full plant.
Butch, you are right about the seed growing. Every time I get 100 new seedlings up,
that's 100 plants to pot up. It's just getting to be too much for me so I give a lot of them
away. At least that way, the lucky recipient will get to do the potting up. LOL
Jackie
Jackie,
Suzanna was hybridized by Burley in Australia 1992.
I'm sure I posted this picture before but here is a well grown 'Mini-Perba' at the Miami convention. I think this may be the same one that was entered the year before as well. I'm not sure what the hurricane lamp is for (is that the trophy?).
After seeing it in person (plus the ones floating around on the web) I knew I had to get one. I lost the first one, but perseverance pays off. Now I have several but it will be quite a while (if ever) to get close to this one.
You are right on giving away seedlings/plants but at some point your friends, neighbors, and family start saying "No more". I tried beautifying our last neighborhood by giving away anything I had excess of and then the things I gave my parents were spread about their neighborhood. What I hate is when you give something and then the recipient just lets it die through neglect. UGH! I just bite my tongue.
This message was edited Jan 23, 2007 8:01 AM
Butch, You had sent this pic before but I loved seeing it again.
It's going to be a must have for me.
It does hurt when someone says I want one of those plants, we
comply, only to find out 2 months later they killed it.
Last yr I only gave away morning glory starts, the common ones.
I have a yellow bird of paradise I want to try to germinate in the next few days,
a Strelitzia or however it's spelled. Could be 5 yrs to bloom on this genus.
Wish I had started it sooner and I hope my seeds are still viable.
The thrill of getting a new plant from seed is why I haven't given up seed sowing
and all the hard work it involves.
Jackie
Jackie,
I don't mind if a plant dies that you give away if they truly tried to maintain it but when they totally neglect it then that is another matter. Why even bother if they won't even give it water or a nice location to thrive?
I grew a bird of paradise from seed several years ago. It has a very hard shell that you may have to nick (use a triangular jeweler's file) to speed up germination. Water lotus (nelumbo) is a similar hard shelled seed that benefits nicking with a file. Mine is quite big now and blooms sporadically but it's still worth keeping. My daughter bought me the giant white bird of paradise (strelitzia nicolai) from HD a few years back (she confused it with a giant dieffenbachia that I wanted). I finally let this monster out in the cold last winter because I was tired of lugging it in and out twice a year knowing that it probably would never bloom. Now impatiens come up in it each year. How can you not like impatiens? They reseed readily and bloom their fool heads off if they get adequate water.
Here is 'Pink Minx' from 2005.
Butch, I will file the seed and soak for a day or so. Hard shelled seeds are my favorite to germinate, they seem to be easier. I think impatiens re-seed here too. Very popular
container plant here.
Gorgeous Pink Minx
Jackie
One of 4 Sophie's, all needing bigger pots. From this past summer
Your Sophie looks great. Does Sophie bloom for you? I thought mine used to but they sure haven't in the last few years. Seems like some debate on another forum about it blooming.
Butch, I hardly ever get a bloom on Sophie. I keep her in too much shade in the summer.
She needs sun and regular feeding to bloom. I don't sweat it cause I love her big
pretty lvs. I figure what good to get blooms if her lvs are scorched. Greg Sytch says that if
a person would just leave her in a more exposed location, she would finally adapt
to the sun but I can't do it. Just color me chicken.
Jackie
I wonder what begonia this is in the foreground, new lvs come out kinda bronzy. I've had this one for yrs. Torch behind on the right and don't remember what's on the left until I enlarge it
again. lol
The pic not so good as I had just bought this digital camera.
That's begonia U177 on the left with red
looking lvs. Part of my yellow ochracea morning glory front left
Jackie, I don't know what that cane is but it sure looks purdy. I will have to see if I have U177. As for Sophie in full sun, I'm pretty sure you can do it as long as you acclimate it and never let it dry out. I planted several canes in the ground at my last house where they had sun from 10 to about 3 or 4. That included Irene Nuss, Sophie, Lucerna, and I don't know what this one was but the closest I can find to it would be Di-Erna. They all grew like weeds. I cut the tops for new starts when frost came calling but I lost Di-Erna. Wouldn't you know it that the next spring it was the only one that came up from the ground. Talk about sweet!
Anyway whatever the true name is, here it is (Sep 2005) towering over Sophie and Little Miss Mummey.
Butch, I have seen a picture of Di-erna and I think your's resembles it.
I have a description from Logees but somewhere I may have a picture if I can
find my oldest catalog.
Logees description says moss green leaves continuously covered in deep coral blooms.
Nice to see the solid green lvs for a change. Since your's is towering over Sophie,
so much for Logees claim that the height is 12 inches. lol
Little Miss Mummey is lovely. I see why she is an award winner.
Jackie
The other begonia that looks close to this is coccinea but I wouldn't know.
Going through some summer pictures this evening and now I long for yesterday.... Wait, isn't that a song? Maybe we should start a new thread - summer nostalgia.
Here is Rosie (with some missing bottom leaves - kinda naked looking) and Sophie back in August.
Butch, 1st time I've ever seen Beg Rosie, she is a beauty but your Sophie is
gorgeous. I love Sophie, she's such a show-off.
Your green lvd could be coccinea. I had a cane at one time that looked very similiar, it was from the Philippines and known only as Philippine species.
Jackie
This message was edited Jan 26, 2007 12:52 AM
Jackie,
Rosie is short for Cracklin Rosie. I've had Sophie for over 27 years now (had to buy this the first time I ever saw it) - second longest next to Lucerna being my oldest (probably 31 or 32). I have U093 which is a shrub/cane (check it out at Kartuz) and Martin's Mystery from the Phillipines (I wonder how many come from the Phillipines). Coccinea looks like it comes from the Americas (pretty broad location, huh?).
Here is a group shot. I like the contrast of colors, sizes, and shapes.
Butch, Nice group shot. I had Beg U093 at one time. It was fairly easy until it
sprawled and I tried to cut it back. Gone in a flash. I had the Begonian with the
story on U093, brought back by Martin Johnson from the Phil.? It started out with a
green leaf then morphed into the lovely pink. I would love to order another but
afraid I will get the same results.
Long about 1983, I don't know if it was the same time Martin brought back
U093, he went to Central America to gather seeds. He brought back seeds of
a yellow flowered cane, what I want more than anything. No germination
on these seeds. What I don't understand is why no one has been back to that
area to look for this special cane. Perhaps slashed and burned out of
existence. Several have tried to create a yellow flowered cane including Worley and
Brad Thompson but w/o success. At least I've not heard or read anything.
Jackie
So are you saying that if you cut back U093, then that might kill it? Did you try rooting the tops you cut out?
Was there any pictures of this yellow flowering cane? That is an interesting story. I haven't heard about this legendary cane but then there are a lot of things I haven't heard or seen. Maybe with all the genetic engineering going on some enterprising soul will make your dream come true (for a hefty price I'm sure).
Butch, I'm not saying if you cut your 093 back, that it will croak. It's just what happened to me.
I probably didn't save the cuttings thinking I was going to have a lovely larger, bushier plant
since that's usually what we get when we prune. I wished later that I had just taken tip cuttings
my plant probably would have survived.
There was no picture of this cane, just the story. I lost my old begonians when we moved here
4 yrs ago. Didn't have enough room inside and left these on the carport, thought I had them protected. I am going to re-order them from ABS and if they have this 1983 issue, will share more re this cane with you. There were more interesting seeds he brought back from this
same area. One item was an org flowered vining begonia, Mabel Corwin grew that one
to perfection.
If the hybridizers succeed with a yellow flowered, they will probably patent it.
Jackie
Winter is not always kind to begonias herein FL.
Dale,
I wish I had it that rough. Try dragging hundreds of pots in and out twice a year.
Here is something to cheer you up. A well grown rhizomatous begonia (I think it is 'Snoopy', a sport of 'Marmaduke'). I just picked this up Saturday at a local nursery.
My biggest 'River Nile' is coming on strong.
Here is 'Mo Reese' - a small dark leave with the classis eyelash and 'pink eye' at the sinus curl.
This is acida with some very small delicate blooms.
A picture does not do justice to this cane - 'Guy Savard'. I just wish I could get it to fill out on the other side without pinching it. It is a small cane.
