i rescued this from the grocery store and it is tagged, Begonia Rieger. when i look it up, the spelling is Reiger though. my question is, is Reiger the variety or a species or what? thanks so much!
needing info on this begonia
Yours is a Begonia hiemalis, sometimes called a florists begonia.
Bright indirect light. Low evening temps brings on the flowers. Avoid water on the leaves. Pinch to prevent legginess. Regular fertilizer at half strength each time you water is fie.
Water when just beginning to dry - they don't like being soggy and often the grower uses a high peat based soil so it's easy to over water.
Sometimes they are mildew prone so good circulation is important. And humidity to avoid crispy leaf edges. these are just some general guidelines.
Welcome to the begonia forum! (it's Debbie isn't it? Cant remember what Zuzu told me)
Edited to add that Riegers are a cross between tuberous and fibrous (wax) begonias.
This message was edited Feb 11, 2007 11:11 AM
thanks, lali! yes, it's debi. all good info to know. it was bone-dry and pulling from the sides when i bought it. i watered it thoroughly when i got home and yesterday i re-potted it. talk about soggy! lol i see first-hand what you are saying regarding the potting medium. so where does the name Reiger fit in to all of this?
I looked it up once, but can't for the life of me recall. A google will likely tell - could have been the person who did the original cross between the two types of begonias.
thank you again. i'll do some googling. it's so pretty; it doesn't matter to me but i do like to have the correct name of things! lol
Ah HA! found it. According to the Thompson's book, Begonias, The Complete Reference Guide;
"In 1955 Otto Reiger at Nurtingen introduced the Rieger-elatior begonias, a significant improvement from the older Hiemalis begonias that originated in 1855."
Begonia x hiemalis seems to me was the original tuberous x semperflorens cross. But I'll have to go look that up too. The Thompsons' book didn't have much more than that.
ah ha again, found it, according to the ABS site
"The B. x Hiemalis group was the result of a cross between B. socotrana and the tuberhybrida begonias, for example B. 'Viscountess Doneraile' which originated during 1865 from repeated hybridisation between four South American species (B. veitchii, B. veitchii (syn. rosiflora), B. pearcei, and B. boliviensis). The crosses were performed by Veitch and Sops of Chelsea in 1883."
So it is my belief that the present day Rieger was a cross from the above with semps. Could be wrong but that's what I think....
oops, forgot the ABS link to where I found that info http://www.begonias.org/begonian/begonianItem.asp?ArticleID=100
wow, thanks for doing the leg-work. i suspect that you enjoy the research as much as i do! ~
yes, and no one will play trivial pursuit with me either! All those useless facts floating around in my nog ...
years ago i knew a guy who was an absolute mega-container of knowledge. i commented to another friend about it one day and that person's response was, "yeah, "so and so" is okay, if you need to know what time it is in Bangkok". i realized right then that we all hold our own precious facts in our heads, facts that are totally useless to the person standing next to us! LOL