begonias for beginners
Comments (68)
hc mcdole
6 years agoCacti don't like soil that stays wet so keep the pot small in order for it to dry out rapidly is one way to meet that requirement.
Some agaves are hardy to zone 6 and 7. I don't have any in the ground. To grow in a cold zone they must be situated for fast draining soil. A hill or berm is best I understand. Google Ruth Bancroft Garden in CA. She used a temporary rain block on her cacti and agaves so that they stayed in the ground but did not get wet in winter. I only get small agaves and variegated when I can find them. I lost some of my big ones years ago by letting them outside in winter. I could show many photos of agaves of ones I've had and ones I've seen in Mexico, California, Texas, and Florida. What gets me is the huge ones at the mini-golf places in Myrtle Beach. What do they do to keep them going.
I used to have a fair collection of bromeliads until I lost over half one winter at our last place. My greenhouse was overflowing so we put the bromeliads in our shed with a new kerosene heater. The dad gum heater fizzled out a few nights after having it lit and a decent flame going. GRRR! Now I have one variegated one, lots of earth stars (Cryptanthus), two Dyckia - wickedly sharp, a few air plants (Tillandsia), and play around with pineapple tops this summer (why? crazy probably).
The colors complement each other on the bromeliad and the Ti plant?
This Dyckia will puncture you if you get too close
I had a Red Devil at one time from Yucca Do
Callaway Gardens had them growing in pockets of their slanted stacked stone wall.
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6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoRelated Discussions
Pinching Back Dragon Wing Begonia
Comments (7)Izhar, you may have something there because I understand that even the most shade loving plants need a few hours direct sunlight. I had a feeling the spot chosen may pose a problem. I needed a planting for a sheltered spot and I thought I might have some success with this begonia. I wouldn't be able to move her to find out if this idea is correct since my space is limited. I guess I had a feeling about it initially, and that's probably why I thought about pinching back as soon as I planted. Ken I am careful not to over water every 7 to 10 days and I like to use Dyna gro Grow 7 9 5 for all my plants and orchids; it makes things easier and more affordable not to have to use different fertilizers. I have added superthrive only to one watering. What I am going to stop doing is misting with a very dilute solution of fert water. I have 2 spray bottles (plain and fert) and I mist on occasion to perk up some of my plants. If it is a fert issue as you say, maybe she will show some progress if I just use the plain bottle. Additionally, I will reduce fertilizer to once a month. I hadn't thought about the cut backs; thanks for suggesting, I will definitely try to root a couple....See MoreBest brand of potting mix? Also, easiest varieties of begonias?
Comments (144)Just last night I finished writing a piece about why you can't amend a water-retentive medium with coarse material. I wrote it specifically as a rejoinder to the very often repeated advice that adding 1 part of perlite to one or 2 parts of water-retentive medium will somehow yield a 'good' medium. I plan on posting it as a thread because it's important for growers to understand that a half measure won't necessarily improve your lot by half. Punked by Perlite? In any forum that is even marginally related to container growing, you'll find the oft repeated advice that you can make a silk purse from a sow's ear by adding together equal measures of an overly water-retentive potting media and perlite. Many growers erroneously believe that you can start with a medium comprised of fine particulates and miraculously make it better by adding perlite. You can't ..... and I'll explain why. Let our starting point be any soil you're so uncomfortable with you feel it needs 'amending' to increase aeration and drainage. Store shelves from coast to coast offer up hundreds of examples, and fora are full of threads that offer suggestions re how to fix them. If there's a standardize version of the advice, it would have to be, “Mix 1 or 2 parts of it [and it rarely seems to matter what 'it' is] with 1 part of perlite and all will be well; but …… will it? Let's look closer. The answer is – the suggested mixture will not perform any where near as well as you might intuit. Just how is perlite supposed increase aeration when it has no internal porosity? By what miracle does a nonporous particle added to a water-retentive container medium, or a bowl of oatmeal for that matter, increase air porosity? Let's say that you have a gallon of Miracle-Gro potting media - the stuff with the moisture control feature, and to it you add a gallon of perlite. Adding perlite is pretty much the same as adding BBs or marbles. If you screened the fines out of the perlite, you end up with 2 gallons of medium, twice the volume; however the double volume ONLY comes with the amount of aeration that was in the gallon of medium that so needed fixing. We sure didn't get any aeration from the perlite. There is no way to deny that with twice the volume of medium and no more than the volume of air already contained in the original gallon you've actually reduced the per volume total air porosity by 50%; AND, the more perlite you add, the worse it gets. Total porosity continues to diminish as you add perlite until you reach a threshold level of coarse material that occurs at the point where there is no longer enough of the original fine material in the newly created medium to fill all the spaces between the large particles of perlite. That will not occur in most practical applications until the fraction of large perlite particles is in the 75-90% range. If your medium consists of 75-90% perlite, it would be misleading to suggest that you're growing in medium X amended with perlite, when you're growing in perlite amended with medium X. We don't take coffee with our sugar or cream, we take sugar or cream with our coffee. In essence, when you begin with a poor medium based on fine particulates, and start adding coarse material like pine bark, perlite, pumice ....... it gets much worse (from the plant's POV) before it starts to get better. If you add an insufficient volume of coarse material – it stays worse. Perlite's primary benefit lies in the fact that it occupies space that might otherwise be filled with saturated medium. Simply put, media comprised of fine particles with perlite added will hold less water on a per volume basis than the same media without perlite, but the aeration level in the fraction of the medium available for root colonization will be roughly the same with or without perlite. Visualize adding a pint of perlite to a pint of sand, then ask yourself whether or not the perlite helped by adding aeration. The answer is a resounding NO. Did it help with drainage? Only to the degree it decreased the amount of water the medium can hold on a per volume basis, but this is something of a hollow victory. More on that in a subsequent paragraph. If we want to take advantage of what well-aerated media have to offer, we need to understand how to EFFECTIVELY use the materials at our disposal. If you have on hand pine bark in an appropriated size, perlite, and sphagnum peat, you can mix them in such a way that the end result is a highly productive medium for container culture; or, the same ingredients can be combined in ways that render them practically unusable. Growers would be much better served to use water-retentive media like as it is from the bag, in combination with the well-reasoned use of ballast in the bottom of the pot than to make a wreck of their medium by adding an insufficient amount of perlite or other coarse materials. The science applies to total porosity and air porosity at container capacity. When using perlite as an 'amendment' to water retentive media, it would also be better to determine the height of the PWT the soil supports (easy peasy), then mix 4 parts of perlite with 1 part of the medium, and fill the bottom of the pot with that mix to the ht of the PWT. Then top it off with the water-retentive mix - unamended. This would be much more effective than amending the entire volume of medium in the pot with perlite. Remember - perlite's job is to take up space, and the space it occupies cannot be colonized with roots. This is the 'hollow victory' I mentioned in a preceding paragraph. While perlite takes up space that might otherwise be full of saturated soil, and in that reduces the volume of water the soil can hold, it also reduces the volume of soil available for root colonization. Space available to roots to grow is still filled with fine particles, which still hold roughly the same amounts of water they did before the perlite was added. Many things can be used to significant benefit if used judiciously, most of those things can put us at a disadvantage if used capriciously. Understanding the role of perlite, and other ingredients that serve as potential additions to container media are steps toward getting to the point where we're far more likely to be limited by things like climate, light levels, and humidity …… than our own skills. Al...See MoreRepoting Begonia Partita
Comments (0)Hello, I've had a Begonia Partita tree for now about 10 months. My Begonia Partita started loosing its foliage on October. I have brought it inside (it was on the balcony) but it continued loosing branching through November and December. I came on this site to get advice and through a previous post I have been directed to http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/houseplt/msg101400289284.html?50 After reading the full article I feed my plant might have some issues related to roots and soil as so I want to repot it. Because I'm totally new to this, I need some advice. I have a set of questions I'll ask. Size of pot: Currently the plant height is 12 inches (from base to top branch) and the pot is 8 inch wide (full width of circle) and 4.5 inch deep from soil to bottom. Is that not enough ? Soil: My plant is from originally from South Africa according to this site: http://www.bihrmann.com/CAUDICIFORMS/subs/beg-par-sub.asp Is there a specific soil I should get ? Can I modify a soil by adding little stones etc (I now understand, that the more the soil has air in it the best). The soil its currently in is (see picture). When I repot, should I apply a fertilizer directly ? Am I ok to use an all purpose synthetic fertilizer (according to the "Good Growing Practises - An Overview for Beginners" is fine. When I repot I need to cut roots that are: dead, growing back towards centre or root mass, encircling, J-hooked roots and damage roots. Should I cut those the closest to the root mass ? My plant now has a sprout that came out from the side base as seen here https://imageshack.com/i/npon3yj Should I cut that off ? Is there anything else I should take into consideration ? Thank you ! Here is a link that might be useful: Image of Begonia Partita...See Morebeginner Begonia enthusiast
Comments (9)Not sure about NY, but in WA we see tuberous begonias for sale (full price) in about May, and discounted by early July. Re planting in ground: tuberous begonias are way too tender to overwinter in states north of about SC. Just dig up the tubers after the first *light* frost, or when the leaves start to drop and drop off the tuber. You can also pull them up when things start to get chilly, then lay them on newspaper until their leaves/branches fall off (they get a little energy from the branches). Then store in a cool, dark place in a paper bag, and mist from time to time, until they start budding (around mid-Feb). I've tried to overwinter them in pots, but they just do exactly the same leaf/branch drop, and you still have to dig them up and store the tubers. Then, plant them in pots till late April when they've leaved out a bit. When the weather is predictably above 50 at night, transfer the plants to the ground. I *love* tuberous begonias - they're gorgeous, and surprisingly forgiving and pest-resistant, and the deer don't touch them....See Morehc mcdole
6 years agoBromeliads come in all types of sizes, shapes, and colors. Be careful of the ones with saw tooth edges. Not as bad as Dyckia but still can cut you like a small serrated knife.
How did this little toad get here without cutting itself to shreds? This was last winter in the basement.
I have many Sansevieria as well. They are very cool looking but grow and grow until they start breaking the pots they are in. Ah, the price of glory?
I used to watch Gardener's Diary every chance I got. My daughter didn't care for her voice at all - said it was grating to listen to. Hmmm?
Callaway Gardens was also the Victory Garden of the South so while most of the old VG programs were done in Boston, they did quite a few at Callaway as well. I wished HGTV and PBS would put those kinds of shows on again.
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6 years agoJust looking at the prickly edges on those bromeliads makes me cringe..thanks for the warning..now I want a bromeliad..why is it that some of us are addicted to plants?..I loved Gardener's Diary but I can understand what your daughter is saying..not the nicest voice I've heard..but I would be thrilled if HGTV would air it again..we were outside until it was dark..if you saw what a small area that I cleaned for the amount of time that I was out you would laugh..I can't help it..I don't like to rush..still have some nice fall color..a Kousa dogwood (2 years old) and my Judd viburnum (fragrant)
hc mcdole
6 years agoErica is probably just more monotone than irritating when it comes to voice.
It was a nice day to be outside but I spent hours downstairs cleaning up and watering.
Get some close-ups of those shrubs! How is your Kousa for blooms? Mine has a nice shape and big green leaves but the blooms are almost non-existent. I think the neighbor's weed trees have blocked out too much sun in recent years. The two I bought my parents are sick looking on foliage but the blooms are very thick.
This was from last year. Good year for it but I don't remember the second one and how it did.
My youngest grandson in front of it
trees in the side yard (pecans and silver maples - UGH)
Southern magnolia seems to be in bloom most of the growing season
my little male model
in front of a big red JM
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6 years agohc mcdole
6 years agoPecan trees are HUGE and messy. They drop a ton of blooms in spring, a ton of limbs through the year, and a ton of leaves in fall. Oh, and they are lucky to have a good harvest every seven years in middle TN. I told my parents to cut them down to let the JMs, daylilies, and peonies get some sun. They had four huge silver maples cut down years ago but let some grow from seed - crazy.
I'm lucky to get my grandson to go to the HOA pool when I keep him, let alone help in any gardening chores.
Smart five year old spreading nutrients. Kids do say the darnedest things, don't they? I told my grandson that man has been on the moon after he was going on about Martians. He said "Do you expect me to believe that legend?" I think he was five or six at the time.
Ah, I'm sorry about that, those photos were from my parents' place last year (middle TN). They are on 1.2 acre lots and none of their immediate neighbors have fences.
These two silver maples served to stack firewood between them.
My wife against one of the big maples cut down by a tree service and my dad told them to let the rest to him (and us) to cut and move.
This is only one of four of the trees cut down
back to begonias - a colorful rex from WM or Lowe's is blooming nicely yesterday
one old leaf and one very colorful leaf
My staghorn fern has become a bit of a monster plant.
I'm trying to make a bonsai begonia out of Selph's Mahogany
nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agohc mcdole
6 years agoIt would take two of me to have reached around either of the two biggest maples that were cut down. They were only 30 years old too. Guess my dad fertilized them too much.
Kids have too much entertainment these days to go outside to ride a bike, play some tag or ball games. With video on demand (thanks Netflix) and video games on tablets (thanks Minecraft and iPad/other tablet vendors), it is hard to pry young ones away from TV and games.
Yes, four to six inch pots are perfect for most rexes and canes. It doesn't matter what kind of material the pot is - clay if you are heavy into watering, plastic if you are light handed. Begonias, coleus, and impatiens often can be grown in the same pot. Just don't let one overtake the entire pot though.
This tiny Peperomia puteolata is making a peaceful existence with a much bigger begonia Valida in this lasagna pan.
You can create a layered look by putting different pots close together - just pay attention to the smaller plants being shaded out.
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6 years agohc mcdole
6 years agoI've gone through stages of pots as well - plastic, clay, glazed, resin, and back to plastic. A small fortune in pots...
At least I got my glassware cleaned up and stored this summer.
and a Vietnamese pot never used (still has the sticker on it)
But did clean up the other one I've used for pitcher plants until my dog dug every plant in it out. The bottom will be forever stained with Georgia red clay though.
I recycled five of the large yard bags of plastic pots this year. The first photo was just clearing out the pots in the dog pen (never used for dogs - GRRR) while the second photo is where all good pots go to rest (or die?)
Oh yeah, we were at Yosemite years ago. We saw the big Sequoias (General Grant and General Sherman come to mind) at Mariposa Grove in the high plateaus of Yosemite. We saw some redwoods at Big Sur - very tall but not as big around as the Sequoias in Mariposa Grove. What a shame when we visited that digital cameras were still a few years away... Probably have a few prints in a shoebox somewhere though. HA!
I would love to see the baobabs in Madagascar and Africa.
You spent $6k treating for the EAB? Is this an ongoing battle with no end in sight? I thought getting trees removed was expensive....nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
6 years agolast modified: 6 years ago
what we've been doing..our compost pile..this represents so much work!!..we rake and pile debris on the right side (bottom of the pic) then chip it to the left (top)..we made this enclosure with logs from the neighbors tree removal..had the trimmers leave them long..sits about 20 feet away from the left back corner of our lot..the plan is a mixed hedge surrounding it to hide it..pic#1 left to right..clearance plants - just planted..2 arrowwood viburnums, a bare paniculata hydrangea, 3 burning bushes (2 out of view)..I know bb's are invasive but they sell them and I need large and shade tolerant..the EAB treatment is over $1900 every 2 years..best estimates are 2 or 3 more treatments..we started in May 2012..due again this spring..this time around a homeowner version of Tree-age is available..we're going to do it ourselves..still expensive but cheaper..I try not to think about what we've spent..I see some nice pots in that pile!..love the blue ones..I'll take some haha..could you plant some begonias in them? Lol..my Yosemite pics were taken years ago too..we had a Minolta 35 mm..now I'm going to Google baobobs..
hc mcdole
6 years agoThat is a large compost pile but it looks very nice compared to the piles I have on our property. I cannot remember which magazine I bought this year but it is a composting method they use in Europe that trench the ground, stack logs on top followed by branches, and eventually other organic debris. The heat given off by the logs is supposed to make this a very fertile growing pile. I kind of doubt I will do this but it looks like a good idea. We quit burning decades ago but most folks still burn leaves, limbs, logs.
How will you spray (is it spray you use?) the top of a tree for the EAB?
Oh yeah, I still use some of the glazed pots for begonias and the like.
I had pink muhly grass in this large pot but it died eventually and the pot cracked right down the middle. Lessons learned - do not use thin wall glazed pots for winter use.
You can barely see the cobalt blue pot housing several rexes. I lost all these rexes in no time as I was just getting into begonias 15 years ago. Each begonia was in a 4 inch nursery pot and I used Styrofoam blocks on the bottom of the big pot to put the smaller pots on the same level as the edge of the big pot.
I used a charming little pink wax type (not the typical bedding wax begonia) in this pot one year.
Back when we moved in and I didn't like the backyard mess. The flapjack kalanchoe was in the bright blue pot in this photo.
Square pots seem to break easier than round so be careful with this geometry.
Do you think I like blue? PS - almost all my succulents are long gone as I let over 200 out one winter as they were too big to continue taking in and out. Are begonias next?
The baobab trees are some of the coolest looking trees. The buttress tree and banyan trees are kind of cool too. Here is a buttress tree in West Palm Beach(think Jurassic Park tree).
Or the Ceiba tree in Guatemala - this is around Valentine Day so the tree is kind of bare except for the air plants growing on it.
What the air plants look like on a tree lower to the ground that my lens could reach. HA! I guess this is Tillandsia ionantha.
another cool tree is the rainbow tree (Eucalyptus) Guess I should've named all my photos as I usually don't for public gardens and vacations. Anyhoo I found this small one from our visit to El Yunque Rain Forest in Puerto Rico a few years ago.
http://www.worldfortravel.com/2014/05/04/rainbow-eucalyptus-trees-maui-hawaii/
I think I've seen some bonsai baobabs but wonder how much work is involved.nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis thanked hc mcdolehc mcdole
6 years agoExcellent remarks about rain water and water in general. My mentor lets her tap water sit for 24 hours before she uses it. I like that idea but if I am out of day old water, I will use whatever water comes out of the tap. After all I drink it and so far (knock on wood) I am still alive and kicking. HA! Makes sense that pure rain water would not have any nutrients in it. If was allowed to run across nutrient rich earth, then it seems plausible that some nutrients would be included?
Show some photos of that rex, Woe! I am on the fence on whether to pursue getting the original Rex or not.
I love my Silver Queen though.
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6 years agonicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
6 years agohc mcdole
6 years agoI forgot to mention hugekultur that I saw in the magazine. Old age is frustrating...
Ah, injecting your trees with good old insecticide of some type. We had termites at this house and our termite service company drilled holes every 12 inches along the perimeter of the basement floor, the garage floor and our front porch to pour termiticide in and then grouted all the holes. This was just the side of the house facing the street since this is where we found evidence of them.
Some glazed pots are made out of steel (or seems like it). The cheaper ones (thin walls) probably are more for decoration than actual use as a garden pot. The Vietnamese pots and the Norcal pots (Lowe's) are thick, thick, thick and weigh a ton. To break these, you would probably have to drop a 20 pound weight from six feet to make a dent.
I love the tropical trees. A huge one in Belize is the Guanacaste tree - not its botanical name but one I got from our tour guides. The Buddha sacred tree is full of controversy. When I was taking pictures of its blooms in Thailand there were many Asian (probably Japanese) tourists marveling over it. A young lady explained why it was so marveled over being the Buddha tree. Hmmm. Apparently the cannonball tree has similar blooms to this Buddha tree (some kind of Ficus). How fascinating. The flamboyant tree (Delonix Regia) has a big festival when it blooms in Puerto Rico. Very vibrant and "Flamboyant". It also goes by Poinciana tree.
The trees I remember blooming in San Francisco is the blue Jacaranda - wished it was hardy to grow here. Just have to settle for what we can grow.
Poinciana in Aruba
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6 years agobefore I get started ran out for some close ups..
#1 viburnum-looks and feels like a peach..#2 Kousa dogwood..#3 a BURGUNDY hellebore!..the only one I've ever seen..you know that I'm not clever enough to alter this photo lol..more garden chat later..
hc mcdole
6 years agoThat is some nice fall foliage you have there. I like the red hellebore - is this year round or due to cold weather? I need to get out there and take some pictures of JMs and my oakleaf hydrangeas before the foliage all falls off.
My 'Stars and Stripes' Dipladenia is now blooming - indoors! I guess after I hacked it way back in spring that it took all summer to put on a new coat of leaves and vines - no time for blooms.
I moved my biggest agave to a corner spot under lights so it won't poke my eye out.
Dimitri is a really cool cane that takes a lot of patience (do not overwater this)
I put a leaf of Shaun's Dream in this pan of jewel orchids last year and it rooted and made a nice little plant.
The jewel orchid is blooming too.
Seed grown Jatropha multifida (Guatemalan rhubarb is how I bought it) has some really cool cut leaves.
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6 years agohc mcdole
6 years agoHere's hoping your red leaf hellebore stays year round and produces lots of new red leaves. You may become the proud parent of something new.
Oh yeah, those agaves can be very dangerous but they are very cool plants. Our tour bus to Chichen Itza (about a 3 hour bus ride from Cancun) went by a field of blue agaves (for tequila) so the workers have special cutting tools to work around those sharp spines. Anyway I've seen some stories where people put corks on the end spine or cut them off.
The blooms are not fragrant and I doubt I have any fragrant houseplants. A couple of begonias might have a very weak fragrance. The Peperomias exude a strange odor in bloom. Some stronger than others. It reminds me of a strong locker room smell - UGH! But then I had a voodoo lily bloom in the garage (bare bulb) that is quite disgusting so had to put it outside even though we were still having some sub-freezing nights.
The high-20's is your high or your low? We've had a few nights so far that we've been below freezing. I think the coldest I've seen so far is 28 but now it is so warm I was wearing gym shorts and t-shirt in the house. I even turned the AC to 74 in the basement while I was down there watering, pruning, sweeping floors. Crazy weather.
The ABG put in a new C&S garden this year. I will be very interested to see what they do with it this winter.
and they had some cool euphorbias in the front as well
I would imagine that these Furcraea will have to go inside though.
I want to see how this Manfreda does as well - I think it may be hardy.
But our climate will not support what Lotusland can do
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6 years agohc mcdole
6 years agoWhenever we can start to control the weather, things will really get messed up - bigger than what we have today.
33 for a high doesn't sound like a lot of fun. We don't have many days where we stay in the 30's but we can expect a few in each winter.
Love Arizona for all their canyons and desert plants. The first time we went to Grand Canyon we didn't see any Saguaro so thought we missed something. The second time we left Phoenix for Grand Canyon and saw many on the drive north. I guess there is a latitude or altitude where they just don't grow?
If you do live in an arid area, you better get used to growing what will grow there. C&S just seem a natural for those areas? I am growing some Pride of Barbados (Caesalpinia pulcherimma) from seed I collected in Florida and now the Mexican bird of paradise (same family - C. mexicana) from seed I collected in San Antonio. Now if they would just bloom!
Pride of Barbados at a Cracker Barrel in Phoenix (if my memory serves me correctly).
The plant I collected seed from at Aquatica.
Mexican BOP
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6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoI'm not sure that I could live in a desert..too much sun..agree that you could have a beautiful garden using desert plants..each place has it's own beauty doesn't it?..too bad that everyone can't grow everything lol..I like the ferny foliage of the Mexican BOP..beautiful blooms too..I had a fast food cup of odd bulbs..I didn't plant them..they were here and I didn't like where they were..dug them up months ago..they might not be good (seemed ok) but I planted them today..the soil was chilly..was wearing latex gloves (I have several types..use latex when I plant)..my hands were cold..no more planting until spring..I've heard bulbs don't do well in the South..do you have any?..I don't plant tulips but I have crocuses and daffodils..so cheerful in the spring and after the initial planting effortless..a better pic of my funny hellebore..
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6 years agohc mcdole
6 years agoI heard that hostas typically grow larger in Ohio, Michigan, etc. Lilacs certainly become small trees in Bismarck, ND but we don't grow them here - too much mildew. I can do without lilacs though.
I just joined Gibbs earlier this year so I don't know prime times for daffodils. I would use their website to go by. We joined in early summer - getting pretty warm then and a few weeks ago for the JM fall colors. Now we will just wait until March/April for the daffodils. I doubt we will renew though - a good 1.5 hour drive for us. The ABG is a lot closer and a lot more to see despite a much smaller property (35 acres versus 292 at Gibbs).
The other garden is further away at Pine Mountain near Columbus, GA. That is Callaway Gardens (Victory Garden of the south). A much further drive but the native azaleas are worth the trip. Also go to Animal Safari - what a laugh-fest it was when we visited with zebras, giraffes, bison, big cattle drooling inside the window (if you didn't keep your window up).
It's been 3 year since our last visit so maybe time to go again. I was kind of disappointed in the azaleas the last time we went.
they do have a few begonias in the conservatory - yay
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6 years agohc mcdole
6 years agoMy two Empress Wu hostas are living up to their reputation.
I don't particularly like "green" hostas but when it comes to big I will swallow my distaste - HA!
About five years old and the smaller (yet large) Earth Angel maybe 3 years old. Rainbow's End is next to the Earth Angel. I have 3 EA with an accompanying RE around EW.
Bird's eye view of the above
The first EW I showed is one year younger than the second one but was half the price and twice the size at our local nursery. The first one was from WFF.I have 3 Fire & Ice around the first EW but are lost until you shoot low.
My first Sum & Substance is half the size it was from last year. I wonder if some critter is chewing its roots.
Titanic is a sport of S&S and I find it very appealing.
I think my favorite large hosta is Climax.The Pygmy JM is dwarfed by Climax.
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6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoI was a golf widow when I was young..but now Don is more interested in watching than playing..the guys he played with have moved..one has passed away..he still has clubs in case he gets in the mood someday..just repeating what I've heard about bigger hostas up north but who knows if that's true..your hostas look great..your Empress Wu looks better than mine..in my defense mine just passed the first summer..top to bottom..Elegans..Empress Wu..Krossa Regal (a favorite)..Jack in the Pulpit - didn't plant these..a few here and there..see how much shade I have in some spots..I scattered Elegans seeds in the fall 2016..found these seedlings this summer..used my reading glasses for scale..can't wait for them to grow..
hc mcdole
6 years agoMy BIL used to be an avid golfer until he became avid fisherman/hunter. I don't know if he still golfs or not. When he was younger it was football/basketball/tennis/swimming/etc. When he was in the Air Force and stationed in Turkey, he traveled all over Europe with lots of the Air Force sports teams so my sister was stuck in Turkey with a toddler and another one on the way. I was just stuck on a Navy ship traveling to the Caribbean for weeks at a time and the Med for six months. Luckily no kids while I was in the Navy.
Oh yeah, I have Elegans, Blue Angel, Krossa Regal, Humpback Whale (looked like SS Minnow when I got it), Blue Cadet, Halcyon, and a few other blues (Blue Umbrella, Blue Mammoth). I have Regal Splendor that is supposed to be a variegated sport of Krossa Regal (I think I read that somewhere). I've got Jack-in-the-pulpits too from seeds I collected in the forests.
One of my Blue Angels
Cherry pits on left did not grow but the Jack-in-the-pulpits all germinated.
I would love to get some of the Asian ones but are they ever expensive. Kind of like the Chinese May apples.https://www.plantdelights.com/blogs/articles/arisaema-arisaema-arisaema
https://www.plantdelights.com/products/podophyllum-delavayi
http://www.pacifichorticulture.org/articles/podophyllums-the-mayapples-of-asia-and-america-2/
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6 years agohc mcdole
6 years agoI don't know how may Mouse Ears I've gone through. Tried them in the ground and in a pot and still lose them - either too dry or maybe voles? I forgot about Bressingham Blue and do have it as well. Never heard of George Schmid. Is he owner of Catalina Gardens? I went there one time but never got the owner's name - raises about 7,000 hostas a year from plugs. Prices are too high though to compete with Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, and our local chain nursery though.
I brought four hostas I dug up from our last house but they were gone after two short years of the deer eating all the leaves. GRRR! The hostas I have now are more recent - anywhere from 2 to 8 years old.
I was into flowers to begin with - irises specifically - about 120 different ones but after a few years of a 2 to 4 week bloom period I became jaded at looking at ratty looking foliage the rest of the year. So I quit the veggie gardening and went for shrubs/ornamental trees. The shade from these killed most of the irises. Then tropicals since they are 12 month interest instead of the growing season - hence begonias, coleus, Alocasia/Colocasia, C&S, philodendrons, etc, etc.
Ah, those gender reveal parties have become a thing recently? I saw one on TV, maybe it was FB where a couple pulls out a pink sleeper and then a blue sleeper - I guess that meant twins? I didn't watch the entire thing as my attention span can be short on some things (such as this).
You should try collecting your seeds - I don't do this with the ones I started but I think the more care you put into raising them the better success you will have.
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6 years agohc mcdole
6 years agoI had at least 2, probably 3 Blue Mouse Ears, Frosted Mouse Ears, and Country Mouse Ears (I could be wrong on this last name). I think I must have to coddle these if I try them again. Same with Pandora's Box and Cherry Berry. The dwarves must need extra special care (at least in my yard).
I will pass on searching for George. If you want to post some links that is fine.
I never bought name brand daylilies but had many of those as well. Always good bloomers along with peonies.
This is the only photo I named so an easy search at our last house. The entire driveway was daylilies and 7 peonies further up the driveway (sorry it isn't in this one photo). Then we had a few clumps here and there in the front and backyard.
I like our Callas - nice foliage even not in bloom
The ones at the bottom of the hill are bigger and fuller - guess more water.
Shasta daisy gets bigger each year too.
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6 years agohc mcdole
6 years agoDARN IT! I had a long post all typed out and ready to submit when I added one more photo and tried to go to bold, italic font before typing in the name of the begonias and GW hung. All was lost. So gripe-some!
Anyhoo I said that it is a balancing act between outdoor and indoor plants. That it is good to have lots of landscape plants to break up the boredom of monoculture grass. We have some homes in our area (and TN and probably all over) that have acres of GRASS! Why? It isn't even level for a ball field of any type.
Callas are hardy here but I did lose my darkest colored one. It was nearly black. Oh well the 3 I have come back year after year and set many seeds and babies afterwards. I believe they are in the same family as Jack-in-the-pulpit.
Some plants in the basement this past week.
Dimitri is a lovely new cane
Helen Teupel is an old rex. There is a silver splashed on in there as well that is getting swallowed up by old Helen.
Island Magic from Greg Sytch. I had to buy one from him when I visited his home in 2009. And his Alligator Alley as well.
B. kingiana is a cool species with thick succulent leaves. Humidity is a must so I use two cake lids to keep it housed. You do not want to overwater this - it will start dropping leaves like crazy.
This is one of the most cheerful begonias from Antoon Hoefnagel (Netherlands or Holland?) This is 'Hugh McLaughlin' named for the late Scottish Begonia Society president. Not a rex - no annoying mildew or semi-dormancy. Easy to grow and easier to propagate.
'Flirty Girl' from our own Ozzie Johnson (so I've been told since he rarely attends any of our meetings)
'Pagoda' by Freda Holley. A big leaf, big stem begonia.
Yay, my Hot Tamale finally blooms! Big blooms on a smallish cane.
A pan of dark leaves. Plum Gorgeous, Bashful Bandit, and Caribbean Corsair. Valida is peeking in on the bottom left corner.
Benitochiba is a beauty and easy to grow if you don't overwater it. It does go semi-dormant at times which can be frustrating until you see it happen many times over the years. Relax, just cut back on watering until it leafs out again.
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6 years agohc mcdole
6 years agoWater as needed. It all depends (don't you love that disqualifier?) on so many things - how hot or cold is it, how big is the pot to the plant, is it clay or plastic or something else, and what type of begonia is it. Anyway you can't give a blanket statement like water once a week and expect fabulous results - people might do that and cuss me out once their plant dies in a week or two.
Here's the thing about stereotyping every begonia into one size fits all. You might have a succulent type begonia that really (really, really) likes it on the dry side while others like to keep their toes moist all the time. I've learned from observation what is what and how to water and how often. Some do better with bottom watering like my brevirimosa and angularis but most I just top water. I check most days for wilt and will water those if they are wilting from dry soil. Any that wilt from wet soil are headed to major problems and you can 1) let it alone and hope it recovers by itself or 2) be proactive and take cuttings or repot or yank the thing out of a plastic pot and put the root ball on newspaper to wick away excess moisture (hopefully you will never have to do this if you water carefully).
That last photo you mentioned is simply named a Tim Anderson hybrid when I picked it up at Harmony a few years ago. Very finicky on water and thought I would lose it a few times over the years. I wonder why I keep it but it is a beautiful begonia when growing well. I think the name may be St. Patrick's Beard but what the heck do I know.This is what it looked like the end of August this year.
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6 years agonicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
6 years agojust collected all the dead fallen leaves off my boliviensis..I keep watering since it still has leaves..how does this look compared to a similar one of yours?..I'm expecting complete dieback..should I stop watering?..sad for me to see it so unattractive..
hc mcdole
6 years agoI ran into a huge problem typing this out twice now so this time I am just posting a screen shot of what I typed in.
And a photo of U578 where this went bad (the dark green and black star shape leaf one)
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6 years agolast modified: 6 years agohc mcdole
6 years agoThey can look dull at times (running low on water and wilting) but the above is natural - not water on the leaves. It could be humidity that day.
Here is one from last year (not fuzzy).
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6 years agonicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
2 years agolast modified: 2 years ago
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