i stopped by the garden center today and as i was checking out (with $76 worth of new plants..."just looking"... yeah, right!) i spotted a handful of beautiful dragonwing begonia canes laying on a stack of boxes. when i asked the owner what he was planning to do with them , he said he'd intended to root them, but didn't have time, so he gave them to me! there are 6-8 canes, each 4"-6" long. a few have lots of blooms.

i brought them home, stripped off the bottom few leaves & stuck the canes in water while i got everything else i'd bought planted. by the time i was finished (with a pause to watch my horse lose in the kentucky derby) it was dark.

tomorrow's a new day, though, and in the interim i've read every single post to this forum re: rooting/propagating cane begonias, and feel certain that what i plan to do will work. i'm gonna stick those babies in some nice light soil, put them outside in dappled light, keep them moist but not soggy, and watch them grow. i'll probably leave the blooms on until they start looking ratty, just because they're so lovely.

the only thing i'm worried about is pot size, because of the conflicting info i've read here about shallow root habits, root rot, etc. i'll just have to see what size pots i've got & hope for the best!

this is all going to happen tomorrow, so if anyone has any last-minute advice ya better shout-out quick!

i'll let you know how things turn out.

lovely forum. thanks to everyone for all the great advice!

:)
susan in kentucky