These days plant dealers need specimens that do the following things: look good ninety-eight percent of the time; provide reliable color or interest; perform in part shade; flourish in gardens or containers and require very little care.\u00a0 Breeders have slaved over certain perennial plant genera, including heuchera, tiarella and brunnera, in an effort to produce those results.\u00a0 In recent years, many of the same breeders have broadened their horizons to include fancy leaf begonias.\u00a0 Now those shade-loving plants are experiencing a moment in the sunshine of popular acclaim.<\/p>\n
The phenomenon has come to my attention, as so many things do, through e-mail; specifically promotional e-mails from the giant wholesaler, Terra Nova Nurseries of Canby, Oregon. Led by its president and resident plant guru, Dan Heims, Terra Nova is an industry leader in plant introductions and the creation of dramatic new horticultural fashions.\u00a0 If you have ever bought one of the scores of colorful heuchera varieties, you have probably bought a plant introduced by Terra Nova.\u00a0 Color is Terra Nova\u2019s middle name and they look for it everywhere, in flowers, leaves, stems and any other plant part visible above ground.<\/p>\n
They especially love colorful shade plants, so fancy leaf begonias are right up their merchandising alley.\u00a0 Up until a few years ago, rex and angel wing types were only available from specialty nurseries. Now they make regular appearances in mainstream plant catalogs and large garden centers.<\/p>\n
The name \u201cbegonia\u201d can be confusing because there are so many different types of plants within the genus.\u00a0 Most of us know wax begonias, those low-growing, sun-loving summer bedding plants that usually bear red or white flowers.\u00a0 Some of us have grown\u2013or in my case, tried to grow–tuberous begonias, which also flower in summer.\u00a0 Tuberous types, sometimes referred to as the \u201cTuberosa Group,\u201d boast sumptuous, somewhat camellia-like flowers in shades ranging from white through a host of pinks, reds, oranges, apricots and yellow.\u00a0 Though a bit finicky, they are glorious in bloom and wonderful for the summer shade garden.<\/p>\n
Fancy leaf begonias grow from rhizomes and have historically been indoor or greenhouse plants. \u00a0They were beloved by Victorians who used them to liven up their dim parlors and bright aspirational conservatories.\u00a0 The flashiest fancy leaf types are part of a group that goes by the name \u201crex begonias,\u201d because they are descended from a distinct species, Begonia rex.\u00a0 Over the years Begonia rex has been crossed with closely related species to produce showy plants with gloriously colored and marked leaves.\u00a0 As if all that color weren\u2019t enough, rex leaves are sometimes ruffled, curled or twisted, as in the popular variety \u2018Escargot\u2019. \u00a0Angel wing types also have interesting leaves, generally angular and wing-like, often with contrasting silver markings.\u00a0 The angels frequently bear large, attractive flower clusters, making them a good compromise for people who want plants that look equally good in or out of bloom.<\/p>\n
Those enterprising new Victorians at Terra Nova are introducing quite a few begonias this year, including a series of three technicolor angel wing types called Garden Angel\u00ae.\u00a0 One of them, Garden Angel \u2018Blush\u2019 features silver leaves blushed with rosy violet.\u00a0 The veins are black and the leaves bear a closer resemblance to Japanese maples than guardian angels.\u00a0 In the rex realm, Terra Nova is also introducing the T Rex\u00ae series, featuring plants like T Rex \u2018Painter\u2019s Palette,\u2019 which bears pale green leaves heavily veined in darker green and blushed at the center of each leaf with dark rose.\u00a0 Like other fancy leaf types, the new Terra Nova introductions are only hardy outdoors in parts of the South and West, USDA zones 9 through 11.\u00a0 However, they are being touted as good garden plants and can certainly spend the growing season outside, either in pots or in the ground.<\/p>\n
Indoors the fancy leaf types like bright indirect light, as in an eastern or western exposure and temperatures above sixty degrees.\u00a0 Both rexes and angel wings like a high degree of humidity\u2014above fifty percent\u2014so grow them with the pots positioned atop a tray filled with pebbles and water.\u00a0 Many a fancy leaf begonia has been killed by the kindness of overwatering, so refrain from watering until the soil appears dry.\u00a0 When you finally do water, stop when you see liquid running out of the bottom drainage holes.\u00a0 Feed once a week during the summer growth season with a balanced fertilizer.\u00a0 Rex types are like many gardeners and need a rest period in the winter.\u00a0 When this happens, keep them in a well-lighted place, give them the rest they need and don\u2019t overwater just because the plants seem torpid.<\/p>\n
The new angel wings are lovely, but my heart pines for a few of the rex types.\u00a0 I am very drawn to \u2018Curly Fireflush\u2019, a rex with spiraling leaves decorated with chocolate and a hint of red.\u00a0 Find it, along with a herd of other rexes and a host of angels at Logee\u2019s, 141 North Street, Danielson, CT 06239, (888) 330-8038; www.logees.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Free catalog. \u00a0The Terra Nova introductions will be in nurseries and garden centers next spring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" These days plant dealers need specimens that do the following things: look good ninety-eight percent of the time; provide reliable color or interest; perform in part shade; flourish in gardens or containers and require very little care.\u00a0 Breeders have slaved over certain perennial plant genera, including heuchera, tiarella and brunnera, in an effort to produce … 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":[4,6,2,3,5],"tags":[697,695,701,699,676,702,696,282,700,675,345,698],"class_list":["post-960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","category-winter","tag-angel-wing-begonias","tag-begonia-care","tag-colorful-foliage","tag-dan-heims","tag-fancy-leaf-begonias","tag-fancy-leaves","tag-how-to-grow-begonias","tag-indoor-plants","tag-logees","tag-rex-begonias","tag-shade-gardening","tag-terra-nova-nurseries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960","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=960"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":961,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960\/revisions\/961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}