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| Foliage begonia was one of my first love when I first started gardening. I still love them but I only grow a few well. Rex are hardest for me they normally do well for first couple of months then they will just shrivel and dry up. I try to avoid the crosses by they are sometimes too pretty to ignore. I live in the tropics so these should be easy but not the case with me. Iron Cross is one I refuse to give up. This would probably be my 8th pot and it is not doing too well at the moment :-(. I try to stick to species now but there are some weak moments and I end up with a hybrid for a fleeting moment.
Sending some pictures of what I have.
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Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by miss_daisy z7 (pssedg@peoplepc.com) on Sun, Oct 21, 07 at 21:10
| omg , those are beautiful. i could sit out there with a cup of coffee and daze for hours. i really like that short stuff in the second pic. question..top pic, hanging in the tree on the right, what is that plant that looks like it would feel like velvet ? , it's lovely . thanks for sharing your photo's. miss daisy |
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- Posted by greenelbows1 z9--so LA (My Page) on Mon, Oct 22, 07 at 23:10
| Really beautiful, albatross, thanks for sharing! Here in the south of Louisiana we have weather rather like yours for about eight months, and then it gets cool enough that the begonias and other tropicals that love the heat and humidity and grow like Jack's beanstalk get nipped or I have to find someplace to protect them. But there are a lot of hybrids that exhibit 'hybrid vigor' that might do well for you too. I have trouble with rexes too, including the species rex, in the hottest part of the year, but then they come back better when it cools off. No help for you there, I guess! But some do quite well as long as they're in a potting soil that drains well. They seem to do better in pots than in the soil, which is not so necessary with canes and other rhizomatous types or with shrubby ones. As hard is it is to find different varieties here without mail-order, how is it for you? |
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| Really beautiful. I love the way you have them grouped together. Thank-you for sharing. Anna |
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Begonias first put in: 
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| Thanks everyone for the compliments. Miss Daisy Greenelbows 1 Tom8 |
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| Albatross, your pictures are lovely as well. I started them myself from seed in the house. So it's been great to see (not literally because the seed as many know is DUST) the progression. It took forever for them to bloom (ok, it seemed like forever!) I would say they were in the ground approximately 4 weeks before they started to bloom. The foliage is lovely - which I'm happy with - but it took 4 weeks to start blooming - and about 2 weeks later they were in almost full bloom. but once they got going they're a mass of red blooms and shiny green leaves. Really can't complain... Tom- |
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- Posted by greenelbows1 z9--so LA (My Page) on Thu, Oct 25, 07 at 0:27
| It's definitely ironic--or I'd say, grossly unfair!--that you can't get a native begonia there and would need to import it! That's one I grow and love, tho' it's not so enthusiastic about what passes for winter here. It'll do almost too well in a terrarium tho'--needs a bigger one than I have unless I haul in one of the big fish tanks for it. Lovely, and different. Nice to have one that's unmistakable. So many really pretty ones you say, well, it could be this, or it could be that--nothing else looks like rajah! Definitely nothing to complain about, Tom--that's a knockout display! |
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- Posted by gregsytch z9b Tampa Bay (gsytch@cs.com) on Fri, Nov 9, 07 at 18:32
| Albatross- Don't bother with Iron Cross. The reason you struggle is that B. masoniana is native to cooler areas in China. They do NOT like hot humid weather. I live in Tampa Bay, and after 3 summers of trying, I gave up! They do beautiful for winter here but by June are dying. They hate extreme heat and moisture. However, go to www.begonias.com and see many other varieties quite similar that will do well, some with B. masoniana in their parentage. Greg Sytch AB S Horticultural Correspondent |
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