Trout Begonia

Morning, folks! I took these pictures early yesterday evening of Walter, my Trout Begonia (B. argenteo-guttata) and a Solanum rantonnetii which I have standarised and is now about 10 feet tall. Walter, whose leaves are over 10 inches long, is the "son" of Tiny Tim who I had for about 20 years and was around 10 feet tall. He now lives with friends of ours in Buckinghamshire. Walter has lived outside here for about five years and only gets morning and evening sun.

 

I have been looking into some unusual begonias, the leaves are lovely. anyway not quite found what I want yet and I know even though they say "Hardy" they will probably not be, but I will take precautions.

Very jelous of your conditions, and pictures look lovely.

 

Thanks, Waco. Tiny Tim never lived outdoors in England but a conservatory would be fine for these or by a big French window as my friends have Tiny Tim. They really only bloom well when they have lots of light.

 

T

 

Try again, the new cultivars of large leaved begonias are dragon wing, pink and red, they have a similar leaf to the cane begonia in LoL's pics but only grow to 2ft and have an arched spreading habit and have been promoted in GCs for tubs and baskets giving an exotic look. they are not frost hardy. The only begonia I know that is hardy is begonia Evansiana(Grandis) which seeds itself my the garden every year(large green leaves and pink scented flowers.

 

Hey, strongylodon, I'd like a few seeds of your Evansiana (Grandis) if there's ever any going, thank you!

 

Sutherlandii is quite hardy with a bit of protection, but its tuberous and dies down in winter.

 

I think I had that begonia for quite a while LoL,
Never knew the name at the time, its flowering well with you, looks good.

 

Thanks, Pete, it is actually under a "lean to" with a cane roof planted in an old Bristol sink I took out of my old house in Bucks in 1983! Have to massacre it each year. Must say, I've never had them bloom like this before ... it's quite a treat for us.

 

I will try and keep an eye out for the seed, might be some months though as there is no sign of flower yet.

 

If I see any seed, which I've never paid attention to before, I'll collect it and let everyone know, if anyone's interested.

 

I have B. Dragon wing Red "Bepared" on my list of things to aquire, but had a struggle finding any so far.

 

It was quite widely available in garden centres about 3-4 years ago Waco. I haven't seen many since though. I rather like it and had it growing against a sunny wall until it was finished off by the exceptionally long end to winter this year. I'm on the look-out for it too - I'm getting quite drawn to the cane-stemmed Begonias, especially those that do well out of doors in summer.

I planted Begonia luxurians ('palm-leaved Begonia') in heavy shade a while back and it is fast approaching shoulder height with leaves divided into many 'fingers' up to 16" across. It makes a very fine pot-plant as well and is reputed to cope with some cold in milder areas. That remains to be seen so I'll take plenty of cuttings for insurance. This species' growth rate means that a cutting taken in August can grow to over 5 feet by the following August.

 

Where did you get it? sounds like a good one to try. Very fast! I am looking for black Colocasia too - they are supposed to be very fast too.

other begonia I am looking for is Scharffii. I thik I am going to have to buy field next door for all my plants - they take up more room than the horse did!

 

I bought the luxurians from a local nursery that grows lots of interesting stuff. Unfortunately they don't do mail-order. However, Koba Koba does and periodically they have nice plants of luxurians, palmata, emiensis and ravenii. They also do a few interesting Colocasias.

KobaKoba web page