Looks like some type of heracleifolia var. nigricans. Some variations are 'Flying High' and 'Black Falcon'. As for care, I would say if it was doing this well under your tree with no care, then I would put it back out in the yard with some shade, fertilize lightly, and water when needed. For me, I have to keep mine in pots to move indoors for winter (Atlanta area). Yours may be buried to deep though in that pot. The rhizome should be on top of the soil else it will probably rot. Mine gets full sun for a few hours of the day on my porch. Watch out for over watering - the concensus seems to be let it dry out a bit between waterings.

I know this is not the place to bring this up but ..... I have half of my begonias scattered about the yard exposed to the elements and the other half on my porch where I have to water almost daily. The ones in the yard have been poured upon for the past two weeks or more (including storms from Dennis and a bit from Cindy) but show no ill effects. Yet some on the porch where I control the water seem to be wilting. I would normally water wilting plants but have learned to resist the temptation if the soil is damp or wet to the touch. So any opinions on this?

Butch

Thank you! hcmcdole I looked up heracleifolia var. nigricanas and it is an exact match to my plant! The common name is star begonia. I sort of would like to keep it as an indoor plant and pretty it up. I still have some under the trees sort of all over but they don't ever seem to grow to any significant size. I will bring up the rizome it is planted too low. Thanks!

There's no reason you can't grow your star begonia in the house or on the patio; when I started growing begonias, including this one, I thought they only grew in the house. Of course that was in a colder climate, but I didn't know anyone who used them outdoors, even for summer bedding. Now I grow almost all my begonias outdoors all year around, and would have a really hard time if I had to find room in the house for all of them. If you have a husband with a fondness for weed-wacking I can really understand why you'd want to have it where he won't get to it! But I bet if you feed and mulch the ones outdoors you'll be amazed at how well they will respond. That is a beautiful plant in your picture already, and I think it's really much easier to grow them outdoors especialy here in the SE where we have what the plants believe is a great blessing in our humidity. I keep telling myself, the plants love it, the plants love it. Whew!
I know what you're talking about, Butch, and have some of the same trouble. Found some little unnamed begonias at the Daylily Festival in Abbeville this spring, and one of them was a hatacoa 'Silver', It was turning into a really nice plant--still small of course, but it had grown quite a bit--and all of a sudden it collapsed. Lost all but one leaf. I think it's going to be allright, but I'm darned if I can figure what happened. I even brought it in the house for a week or two! I think USUALLY if the mix drains well they can take a lot of water, especially when it's so hot. I think the longer I grow and the harder I study the less I know. Somebody said the most you can hope to learn is how much you don't know. By that measure I may be fairly knowledgeable. But I'm not sure how to spell that.

Thanks! I will keep my new orphan indoors I'm keeping on the patio a few days to make sure I got any bugs off of it. Then I'm giving it a chance in a bright spot inside. To be honest it is sooooo hot here right now the I have been turning my attention to keeping some indoor plants something I haven't done in a long time. I'm going to pick up some peat humus and throw a little on the out door orphans and see if they can pretty up a bit. Also going to find some HUGE sticks to mark some other weird specimens to keep hubby at bay! lol!

Here is a picture of my star type begonias.

'Bashful Bandit' in bottom left corner
'Black Falcon', 'Green Rhizomas', heracleifolia var. nigricans in top left
'Earl-ee-bee' supposedly in top right
'Flying High' just starting to grow bottom right
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I added 'Benitochiba' into this mix. It does not photograph well against concrete. 'My Special Angel' is hanging out a pot to the upper left.

'Benitochiba', 'Flying High', 'Earl-ee-bee', 'Bashful Bandit', heracleifolia, 'Black Falcon', 'Green Rhizomas'

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Butch

Wow those are lovely thanks for showing us! I especially love that variegated silver and burg one it's gorgeous!

Starlucid,

The silver and burg one is 'Benitochiba'. I had two prior to this one which I eventually killed. This one is on its 3rd year and I have been able to propagate several off of this one. I think the key is to neglect it in the winter. Not really, I just put it in the semi-cold, semi-dark garage for winter, water sparingly when I remember, move it outdoors when it warms up, and presto - it grows like crazy. It drops all its leaves in winter like a lot of begonias do, so I don't think it would be a good candidate to have indoors anyway.

Greenelbows, sorry to hear about your hatacoa 'Silver'. I got my first one earlier this year. Hopefully it will put a lot of growth on before winter so I can start propagating it. I about lost 'Connie Boswell' so I'm trying to nurse it back to health. Several others are limping along with all this heat after so much rain. The limp begonias are the ones on the porch that I have to water. I try to water when they look dry. Most of the ones in the yard are doing fine that should be rotting due to so much rain. It doesn't make sense. I think I am just going to let the ones that are limp on the porch go somewhat dry to see if that helps.

Butch

Looks like my hatacoa 'Silver' is going to be fine--the one leaf looks very perky, and quite a few new ones are showing. But I can't figure what happened to it! My 'Benitochiba' looks almost as good as yours, and I think the answer with it was, as you say, ignoring it. I put it where I don't see it so often so I don't worry about it and fuss at it! It's at least the second, maybe the third, one I've had too, but the first one that really looks lush and happy. Some of them don't much like 'benign neglect', but some sure do. Just wish we'd get enough rain I'd have to start worrying about that!

Greenelbows,

Good to hear that your hatacoa is going to make it. I should move my Benito to a bigger pot, but there are too many others that need it more.

Rain is such a hit or miss thing in the Southeast. One year you get rain every day for weeks on end, the next year you go 2 months without a drop. I just wish there was an in between - a daily shower for 30 minutes or a weekly soaking would be excellent.

Butch