Interesting project. Mine has never bloomed. You might try getting more sun for some, and check varying fertilizers. Somebody somewhere recommended tomato fertilizer. I've always felt the foliage is so decorative it doesn't need flowers, but you may have stimulated my curiousity!

Thanks Greenelbows1!

I agree Sophie Cecile is beautiful without blooms.

My curiosity was aroused because the flowers are supposed to be fragrant as well.
I can try different light levels, although, when I treated some cuttings (about 20) as an annual in my flowerbed 3 years ago, they were exposed to direct sun for the entire afternoon in summer, and never bloomed - I lost some leaves to scorch when I first put them out. They recovered beautifully - however nothing bloomed. They had grown about 2' tall by first frost which killed them (I didn't have room to dig them all and overwinter them).

Maybe the Tomato fertilizer will do it.

So, our experiment is at 4 plants - (1) current light (indoors South and East light) (2) higher light (3) current light and tomato fertilizer (4) higher light and tomato fertilizer.

Keep us posted please! I haven't ever seen Sophie Cecile in bloom, tho' I've seen it pictured. It really looks beautiful. I'm betting more light will help, tho' mine got plenty--didn't get watered enough tho'.

Since it has been a few years since this subject first came up, I am curious: Has anyone found conditions to induce blooming in Sophie?
I have seen photos of it in bloom, so someone out there must know what it takes. However, if so many people have grown it many different ways without luck, I do wonder if those photos of it in bloom required application of plant hormones to induce blooming or something?

I think it requires lots of bright light from what I've learned on line. Maybe it isn't meant to bloom for us in the temperate zone.

I think I saw it in bloom at Discovery Cove in Orlando but the plant was extra large. It could be Lana as well. The other begonia has to be Maurice Amey.

See what you think.

Many years ago Sophie bloomed very sparsely for me at the east window of the greenhouse, unshaded. Mrs. Kusler, the hybridizer, always denied it was not a good bloomer. She wrote a funny article for one of the newsletters telling how she had to find a home for it and needed a small van, because of the height, to deliver it.This is a photo of a photo, I've never had a bloom from it since.

I have one that I have had for almost 2 years and it bloomed really well last year when I brought it in the house in the fall. I had it sitting in my dining room in a south window. It had many clusters of tiny pink flowers that hung down like grapes on a vine. It was really pretty. Here is a picture of it before I brought it in the house and it had already started to bloom. Then after I brought it in, it continued to bloom and was pretty much covered. I had it sitting on a patio on the north side under the overhang of the house where it did not get a lot of rain or sun. Sorry the picture is sideways.

Looks good Vickie (except the sideways pictures). I bought one that looks just like Sophie in full bloom. The next year it bloomed again. Rather confusing as my originals have never bloomed but I like the foliage too much to get rid of.

A much easier one is Irene Nuss and Lana. Both bloom indoors (given enough light) or outdoors.

Irene is the big dark green one on the left.

Irene in full bloom or close to it in late August last year.

And Lana just starting to bloom last late August.

Hello, I just found this discussion, and it looks like people have been adding comments for over a decade. I definitely have some input here.

I actually bought my father a Sophie Cecile Begonia from Jamaican Gardens, in Morton Grove, IL back around 1995. It was a good sized plant, I think it was in an 8 inch pot. The foliage alone is beautiful, but those clusters of pink flowers really are incredible. My father had the begonia for a few years, and it did really well.

He placed the plant on the back patio of his condo which faced west, but the patio was also shielded and covered by the upstairs neighbor's balcony, so the plant would only get sun in the very late afternoon till sunset. It did produce a lot of flowers, big clusters of pink flowers, I don't recall the flowers having any fragrance. It must have been the perfect exposure for the plant, because the leaves looked incredible, and it produces flowers constantly in the summer.

After bringing the begonia in for a couple years, he re potted the plant to about a 12 inch pot, or it might have been larger, and the begonia got to be over 4 feet tall, it was probably one of the most beautiful plants he had ever grown. When it got to be too big, he gave it away, and I wished I had taken some cuttings, so I could keep the tradition going of having this plant on his back patio. Somewhere in a stack of old photos at home I still have a picture that my father took of the Sophie Cecile begonia the last summer he owned it.

I have always wanted to try growing it, now that I live in northern Florida. I might get a couple starter plants this spring and see if I can get them to grow and thrive here. Again, this begonia was a show stopper of a plant. My father had many neighbors who would see the begonia on his back patio as they walked along the sidewalk and often would ask him about the plant as they admired it. I gotta try to grow this plant this year. It's magnificent.

Please scan any photos of it and share here

It is a glorious plant and so easy to grow

Thanks for sharing your recollections of your dad's begonia.

I’ve desperately wanted mine to bloom. It got huge last year but not a single bloom.

Tim, I enjoy Sophie for its leaves. If it blooms then that would be nice but not going to lose sleep over it either. Get Lana (if you don't have it) as it is a reliable bloomer.

Good advice HC.

I have read that Sophie was grown for its foliage and not it’s blooms. I bought one plant five or so years ago. From that plant I now have multiple plants and have learned how to make them flourish, but not to bloom. Love her anyway.