Begonia
be-GON-yuh
Over the past several years I have grown several cultivars of Begonias. They are very easy to grow if you follow a few basic rules and they are some of my favorite plants.
Plants of the World Online by Kew lists 1,897 species in the Begonia genus (as of 1-9-21 when I am updating this page). The species have been divided into 60 sections, 16 in East Africa alone. They are native to many countries in mainly tropical and subtropical climates. Begonia is a member of the plant family Begoniaceae with 2 genera. Those numbers could change as updates are made.
There are over 10,000 cultivars…
I am not going into a lot of detail because there is a lot of information online written by experts, which I am not. I just enjoy growing Begonias for their beauty.
GARDENING KNOW HOW has a lot of information about Begonias. There are two links below but you can click on the arrow at the bottom of their pages for much more information.
There isn’t a whole lot online about Begonia cultivars unless you click on page after page of sources for the plants. By the time go through a few pages you get tired of it. Luckily, a man from Proven Winners sent me a link to the International Database of the Begoniaceae… Ummm… The Record List includes 19,401 different species and cultivars of Begonias…
One of my favourite plants.
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Hello Sue! There are so many to choose from it is a good thing the greenhouse doesn’t have more of a selection from year to year or I would have many more. They are one of my favorite’s, too. Thanks for the comment!
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Yes we save the tubas and regrow, we have some whoppers in flower right now. 😀
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Hello Sue! AWESOME. Ummm… What is a tuba? Thanks for the comment!
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Haha… I meant ( tubers.. ) The root of the plant. Because of our winters, and frost we have to dry out the tubers and store over winter. in sawdust to replant next spring. 🙂
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Ahhh… Kind of puzzled me for a minute. TUBERS! 🙂 Storing them like that is a good idea and many people do that here, too. A few years ago the Rex Begonia I had went dormant in the basement and came back up in the spring. I thought it was a gonner but it surprised me. There are many plants you can store like you do but I haven’t tried it. I keep them in their pots but don’t water them if they are dormant. The Begonias didn’t go dormant, so I just watered them off and on all winter. If they were to go dormant, I wouldn’t water until spring. You just never know…
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Yes our methods may differ but with the same results.. 😀 We store our Dahlias over winter like that too, as its too cold where we are in winter for them to survive in the garden.. 😀
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We have to dig and store Dahlias here as well as many other tender bulbs. 🙂
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Indeed, Wishing you a peaceful Sunday Mr R.. 🙂
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You, too! 🙂
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