| Home Page | Learning Center | Our Location | Events & Classes | Mailing List | Our Staff | What's New |
Fun Facts
Did you know that tuberous begonia flowers are good to eat?
Sort of lemony sour, but good, especially if you put them in a fruit salad or eat each petal with a little spoonful of fruit yogurt. You can make a great begonia flower sorbet that is delicious, easy and lots of fun at a party. Just ask and we'll E-mail or fax the recipe to you.
Now for the growing part.
Planting
Begonias grow best in a light well-drained soil. If you have the kind of soil that can stub your toes...either plant your begonias in raised beds, large pots or improve your soil. Six to eight inches of redwood mulch, oak leaf mold or other humus type of amendments dug into your soil will do wonders. Any good light potting mix is okay for your containers.
If you dug your begonias at Weidners' be sure to water them lightly as soon as you get home. Put them in the shade until you can plant them, (not more than a day or two!) Plant them at the same depth that they were growing. Water again after you plant. After that, water your begonias when the soil feels dry to the touch, (down into the soil a little bit). Keep them moist but never soggy! Begonias don't like to be over-watered. Over-watering is one of the most common problems.
If your begonia was already potted when you bought it then it will probably be in a lighter soil mix and will need water more often than the field dug begonias. Watering or misting done before noon will cut down on mildew problems. If you live in a warm dry area, misting is really good for your begonias.
It's very important that your begonia plants have lots of light, even some soft sun and plenty of air circulation. Mildew thrives in warm airless corners.
If you are starting from a tuber in February, March or April this is what you do. You have two choices. Leave your tuber in a warm bright spot and wait for a little pink sprout to appear and then plant it. or plant it in a pot or flat covered with just about a half inch of light potting mix. Water it once....really well. This wakes the tuber up. It is moisture and warmth that wakes the tuber up! Remember the tuber has no roots yet so don't drown it by watering more. Wait to water again until you see some growth or the soil is quite dry. Some begonias will sprout right away others will take weeks.
After your plant begins to grow you can begin to give more water.
Think of a newborn baby. You wouldn't try to give that baby a full glass of milk! Just a little milk at a time and then more as the baby grows. Your begonia and all small plants are the same. They are just babies. Don't drown them but don't let them get really dry either.
When you have leaves and stems several inches high then feed with 1/2 strength liquid balanced fertilizer the first time. In about two weeks more you can start a regular feeding schedule.
On basket varieties....When your growth is about 2 inches high, pinch out the primary growing tip to make it branch well close to the bottom. This will ensure that you have lots of branches that hang gracefully.
Now your begonia is growing.
As your begonia grows you can think about some of the following fun facts.
Begonia flowers always face the same direction as the leaves point. Tuberous begonias have both single and double flowers. The double flowers are the boys and the single flowers are the girls. Sorry about that girls, but the boys win this time. Not only that but there are usually 2 girls for each boy. Isn't that just like life?
Begonias have very brittle stems and they can break off easily when they get big so be sure to stake and tie your plant as it gets taller.
Like we said earlier tuberous begonia flowers are good to eat. Try adding them to your next party menu. You can make all sorts of outrageous claims that can never be proved. Such as: eating begonia flowers is sure to improve your sex life, puts hair on the head and chest of male eaters, is loaded with vitamin C, and is probably an arthritis cure! Make it up as you go along. Lots of fun!
Back to serious:
The Non-Stop type of tuberous begonias are a newer strain from the Benary Company in Germany. They are different from regular tuberous begonias because they bloom earlier and are later to go to sleep in the fall. They are also more heat tolerant and easier to grow. They are called Non-Stop begonias because in a greenhouse with lights during part of the night they can bloom during the winter non-stop.
In areas that don't freeze you can have your Non-Stop Begonia in bloom during the winter if you have garden lights or a porch light that you turn on every night for several hours. The flowers on the non-stop type are smaller and not as fancy as in the giant hybrid varieties. They also don't yet come with the dark picotee edges.
There is one special non-stop that is fun to have. It is called Pin-Up and is all large single white flowers with a dark rose edging. The way they accomplished these all single flowers was to breed the doubleness out of the male flowers.
Benary Company has also developed Illumination, a true basketing non-stop strain. Not every color yet but very pretty. Ornament is a non-stop that is more compact and will do very nicely in a 6" pot for your patio.
Charisma has flowers that are more like the tiny rosebud blooms of a Rieger begonia. Charisma however, is lots sturdier than a Rieger and can be planted in your flower bed and will bloom all summer.
Giant flowered tuberous begonias are the most beautiful! They can often have blooms that are 4 to 6 inches across. Very beautiful and showy. The giant hybrids come in carnation ruffled and camellia rose form blooms. All the colors except blues, greens purples.
Picotee means that the flower has a darker edging around all the petals. Red picotee, apricot picotee and the other picotees all come out a little different. One of the fun things about coming down and digging your own is to walk the rows and find the most beautiful flower of all and claim that plant as your own.
No matter which type of tuberous begonia you are growing you want to keep it fed. You may use any kind of balanced liquid fertilizer or a slow release like osmocote . Tuberous begonias respond nicely to every two weeks getting a good feeding. If your begonia gets too tall it could be too shady. If your begonia gets sun burn on the leaves and the leaves look stressed and dry on the edges it is either too sunny or too hot.
Pick off the flowers when the edges start to turn brown. This will keep you from getting rot down into the plant.
Watering too much or planting too deep can cause stem rot down near the base of the plant. This is a fungi that causes the stem to get rotten and can ruin your plant. Good air circulation, keeping the watering at the right amount and and occasional spray on the stems with a fungicide will help.
Mildew on the leaves is the other problem with begonias. The cause is the same as stem rot. Mildew is a fungi and thrives in warm, humid locations. Don't crowd your plants, give them air and watch for the first white patch on any of the leaves. If mildew attacks spray right away with a fungicide. Mildew spores multiply by the millions so don't wait.
In the fall....
Sometime in the fall your begonias will begin to look straggly and tired. Let them go to sleep gradually by withholding some of the water. Do not cut them back! You want them to put all the strength you can into the tuber.
When you have just a stem left with maybe a leaf or two your begonia is ready to be put to bed. Now you have some choices...
Finally, what comes up in the spring welcome back with joy. Forget about those that don't make it. Plants and flowers are for giving happiness, not worries.
Good Gardening...Mother Earth Evelyn
