{"id":240,"date":"2011-01-17T05:43:14","date_gmt":"2011-01-17T13:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/garden\/?p=240"},"modified":"2015-11-24T07:32:57","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T15:32:57","slug":"tuberous-begonias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/tuberous-begonias\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuberous Begonias"},"content":{"rendered":"

TUBEROUS BEGONIAS
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\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Everyone has his or her own vision of heaven.\u00a0 I have several, but one of them looks a lot like a greenhouse full of perfectly grown tuberous begonias, or Begonia x tuberhybrida, in every color of the rainbow.\u00a0 The flowers would be huge and perfect and unobtrusively staked to prevent floppiness. In fact, this particular heaven would look a lot like the summer scene in the begonia greenhouses at White Flower Farm in Litchfield, Connecticut.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For those who don’t know tuberous begonias, start by imagining abundant flowers that look a bit like rather blowsy roses.\u00a0 Position those hypothetical flowers atop fleshy stems about eighteen inches tall and adorn the stems with bright green leaves that are slightly toothed or serrate and sometimes asymmetrical.\u00a0 Add imaginary backlighting to highlight the blossoms and you have a good idea of what the array of tuberous begonias looks like at White Flower Farm.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I am considering this pleasant vision because it is cold and snowy outside and I am tired of looking at my garden and being reminded of exactly how little garden clean-up I did in the fall.\u00a0 It is also time to think about ordering begonia tubers to start inside in February.\u00a0 The scores of plant catalogs that alight on my porch every day like a flock of starlings are full of pictures of tuberous begonias–growing in pots, dangling from hanging baskets and blooming riotously in perfectly tended gardens.\u00a0 Now is the time to figure out exactly how many I want and then winnow down that list to a number that I can afford.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I always start the selection process at the top–with the English-bred Blackmore and Langdon begonias offered by White Flower Farm.\u00a0 They are glorious, the result of breeding efforts begun by James Blackmore and Charles Langdon in 1901.\u00a0 The company is still family-run and the decades of careful breeding have paid off.\u00a0 I am especially enamored of ‘Nell Gwynne’, named after the beautiful seventeenth century actress who found lasting fame as mistress of King Charles II. \u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ‘Nell’ is peachy yellow, with perfect, rose-form flowers.\u00a0 The plant would certainly light up my shady garden corners, especially in the company of ‘Lancelot’, a white-flowered specimen with darker green leaves. However, ‘Nell Gwynne’ and ‘Lancelot’ are an expensive couple, with a single tuber of either one costing $45.00.\u00a0 It makes me wonder how much it cost to keep the original Nell Gwynne looking fresh and rosy.
\nThere is a cheaper alternative to the named varieties, and that is to buy a collection of unnamed Blackmore and Langdon seedlings.\u00a0 Five tubers of these unnamed varieties cost about $50.00, a considerable savings over ‘Nell’ and ‘Lancelot’ and enough to make an excellent display.<\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There are, of course, cheaper begonias.\u00a0 One catalog lists a tangerine-colored, large-flowered variety for $3.95.\u00a0 This is much more accommodating to my budget. \u00a0I might also buy some of the hanging basket varieties, which have smaller flowers and a cascading habit.\u00a0 Since my hanging basket space is partially shaded, these would make an excellent choice.\u00a0 They are also cheaper than their large-flowered cousins.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is easy to start begonia tubers inside.\u00a0 Order now and in a few weeks they will arrive on your doorstep, looking for all the world like dried-out cow pats. Plant them, depression side up\/root side down and cover with no more than an inch of potting soil.\u00a0 Set them in a sunny windowsill and within two weeks or so, you should see sprouts emerging from the soil.\u00a0 Keep them watered, but do so only when the top of the soil feels dry. Standing water or excess moisture are the worst enemies of a healthy begonia.\u00a0 Eventually you will have to start staking the stems, so it is wise to insert some short stakes in the soil while the plants are young, so you won’t disturb the roots.\u00a0 By the time the plant is approaching blooming size, it will be time to put it in a lightly shaded space outside. Growing tuberous begonias in pots on a porch or terrace is an ideal situation, as the plants suffer in rain or windstorms, especially if water collects in the pots.\u00a0 The flowers are not as robust as the roses they sometimes resemble and are easily damaged by the elements.\u00a0 Even if you opt not to buy one of the $45 per tuber varieties, cosset your begonias as if you had done so.\u00a0 You and the plants will be much happier that way.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The ancestors of modern hybrid begonias were tropical plants and their descendents are not winter hardy.\u00a0 You can dig desirable varieties in the fall and store them over the winter in a cool, dark, dry place.\u00a0 Serious begonia growers do this every year and the plants increase in size over time.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Modern begonias seem emblematic of the interconnectivity of the world. Named by Linnaeus, an eighteenth century Swede, after Admiral Michel Begon, a seventeenth century botanist and Governor of Canada, they have been brought to perfection in the twentieth century by breeders in England and California.\u00a0 They are enjoyed everywhere by lovers of beautiful things.\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TUBEROUS BEGONIAS \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Everyone has his or her own vision of heaven.\u00a0 I have several, but one of them looks a lot like a greenhouse full of perfectly grown tuberous begonias, or Begonia x tuberhybrida, in every color of the rainbow.\u00a0 The flowers would be huge and perfect and unobtrusively staked to prevent floppiness. In … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-winter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1551,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions\/1551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}