Begonias are most popular for both indoor and outdoor landscapes but it was also popular in people that’s why it gets cultivated in most of the world. Their variety has many colorful blooming flowers that attracts gardeners around the world. They are easy to grow and very well thrives in warmer climate. It has very bright green leaves comes in different shapes.
Are begonias annual or perennial ? They are actually perennial but most of the people describe it as annual beaucase they survive in one season only then die. The reason why this plant dies is because of the cold temperature which is hard in winters ,They freeze in winters and cannot survive Cold weather. Some of its variety survives but most don’t. These plants are not costly. That’s why people buy it again every season and if you live in a warmer climate they can survive there. Now let’s read more about begonias plants.
Background Information
This Flowering plant is a member of Begoniaceae & its genus has over 1700 different species of plant. It was not particular to any location as this one grows in most tropical and subtropical regions. Some of its species are highly popular as they can give decoration to the indoor house and it was used inside the house to give a royal view in pictures. It is also one among many plants that has the largest flowering plant species in numbers (more than 1800 ) in total. The scientific name of this plant is Begonia obliqua. Some location it was found in is Central America, Southern Asia, South America and African region.
Specification
Table of Contents
| Family | Begoniaceae |
| Life Cycle | Both (Annual & Perennial) |
| Height | 1 to 1.6 ft |
| Width | 0.6-1 ft |
| USDA Zone | 10 to 11 |
| Light | Shade or Partial Sunlight for 2 hours |
| Soil | Potting Mix, Moist |
| Water | Spray in leaves ,
Wait for soil to dry out (Variety Variation) |
| Flower Bloom | Summer to fall |
| Flower color | Yellow, white, pink , red |
| Propagation | Root or Stem |
| Toxicity in roots | Toxic to cats, dogs, Horses ( Mostly roots are inside the soil so you can say its safe)
According to NC Extension Gardener. |
Begonias for Sale
Many websites are their who sells its seeds and their are not costly and price is very less compared to other good colorful flowering plants. I can suggest , If you are interested to buy this plant.
Here is the link to buy begonias for sale :
Begonia 3 in 1 Collection
Here are 3 different Begonia plants You will receive.
Begonia Care
Begonias care requires fertile soil with draining capability, Keeping soil moist is preferred. Begonias should watered less in winters and always check water dryness using your index finger at 2 inch in soil. Liquid fertilizer can help begonias to grow blooms much brighter and healthier. Begonias Care light requirement is partial shade that fulfills the plant all needs. There are some variety which have different caring needs So I will explain them separately but most of them have similar indoor and outdoor care.
Watering
To keep them healthy, we need to give water everyday. But keep in mind that don’t put too much water in it as this might spoil its root. The issue of rotting roots is common in this plant, so need to pay attention to your watering.
Always check water on soil to about 1 inch , if you find it moist then Wait for the next day to water it. Until it is dried out fully it won’t need water. Those location with cold weather doesn’t require daily watering and only give them water in a 3-5 days.
Light
Talking about light, these plants requires bright light meaning no direct sunlight and only filtered light. You can grow them near the window , where a lot of direct sunlight comes but only for 1-2 hours.
Indirect light is preferred because this plant likes to stay moist.
Soil
In order to grow Begonias, You must have good and healthy soil , that do not dry too fast or neither does drain slow. They highly dislike garden soil and also compost like succulent and cactus.
For this begonias, you can use Potting Mix, Peat Moss and Perlite, these 3 are used to air circulation and to regularly keep the soil dry, even helps to overcome rot situations. Check Below Propagation method to know how much quantity of potting mix you need.
Basically it was 60:15:15 – Potting Mix :Peat Moss :Perlite .
Temperature
These plants thrives in the temperature of 63°F to 71°F and enjoys warm weather. They like warm places and highly hate cold places. These plants should not remain in the lower temperature below 56°F otherwise it might gets some problem.
If the temperatures drops to 40°F or below , they might get freeze ,you need to protect them in winter. Some of its variety can tolerate cold temperature.
Fertilizer
Fertilizer is required when it starts to grow and only feed once in a month. It has been suggested fertilizers should be given according to the variety itself. For those who are having Tuberous Begonias. One fertilizer which i use is Balanced fertilizer if you want to buy here is the link.
Begonias fertilizer – Shop Now
Humidity
If you already growing them indoors its good , if you live in hot warmer cities then you need to give them some humidity as they thrive better in that. At hot much warm places, either you can use humidifier or use cold tray beneath the begonias pot itself. To prepare this try put some pebble and fill water in tray and then put it under the pot, it will keep the plant moist. It is a great way to provide plant with a humidity like climate.
Container
These plants do not like to grow in big pots or containers. For them, pot size matters a lot because they can hold their roots properly in small pots.
If you have a plant that takes many days to dry, then your pot may have some issues.
If the pot is too big, change it immediately and plant your begonias in small pot. These large pots cause rotting in the roots.
How to Propagate Begonias
Propagating begonias is much easier and anyone can do that so to propagate begonias you can apply 2 methods either using leaf or stem cutting. I will explain both the ways and after the method I will also explain how to grow them using seeds as many grow these begonias for the first time.
Steps to propagating begonias:
1 . Use a Sterilize cutting tool to take a Cutting.
Take a Sharp Cutting tool and make sure to sterilize it (basically clean). In a gardener ‘s way, you don’t require any plants cutting tools as they are soft and can be easily taken out. But for beginners and for safe cutting without any virus and bacteria use tools . Now for propagation, you need to cut the stem from anywhere even if it was half inch or 1 inch don’t matter. In the leaf case , Just take out the whole leaf and cut it from the base making an inverted V. (refer video below).
2 . Prepare Soil.
There are the 3 things you need to make a perfectly well drained soil for begonias.
Here is how much you need to mix – 60% potting mix , Peat moss (15%), Perlite (15%).
Mix them well and it’s ready.
3. Choice Small Sized Pot.
One thing that these plants don’t like is a big pot where the water is trapped and eventually it will spoil the root system. So always use a small size pot for this plant and when they grow big use its fit size pot.
3 . Put the Leaf or Stem cutting in soil.
Now if you are using leaf cutting , put the cutting in soil and make sure to cover soil only to the branches shown inside the leaves, That part will grow the roots.( SEE the video below to get a more clear picture).
If you are using stem cutting , that can be easily put in the soil. Success rate of growing begonias with the stem is more than the leaves.
4 . Water it and keep it moist.
Water is necessary and you should be giving it water regularly to keep begonias moist.
5 .Put them in a light area.
Place this plant in a shade area where it will get some indirect light.
6 . Root germination time.
Roots can be seen in 2-3 weeks and after that it takes 2 months to fill your half of the pot with lots of new leaves.
7. Enjoy.
Now enjoy , you just have a new begonias plant from an existing plant. This can be done again and again every season. So Happy propagation.
How to Prune begonias
Pruning begonias is done to make sure our begonias stay healthy and doesn’t get bigger in size which can’t be managed indoors so we limit its growth. What you need is a cutting tool that should be sterilized or clean properly so when we cut the begonias leaves, stems it doesn’t harm the plant or spread any infection further in near by plants.
Following are the step for pruning begonias:
1 . Find the leaves or stem which gets diseases or pale.
Find every leaves that are either showing leaf spots, diseases or may be getting pale . You need to also check if any leaves are just taking too much space that should also be cut down.
2 . Sterilize your cutting tool.
Your tool should be clean and also free from bacteria.
3 . Prune it and make it healthy.
Trim all the leaves and flowers you find that are looking ugly , spoiled, pale, diseased. Also if the plant is overgrown , cut it down to limit its growth. Cut the long leaves also.
4 . Clean it or use that as a propagation stem or leaf.
Now clean the soil surface and also your table where you prune the leaves. Or what you can do with these cuttings , You can try to propagate them in a new pot.
5 . Water it.
Water them so that they feel happy.
(Begonia obliqua) Types of Begonias
There are many types of Begonia, first I want to tell you how they are different as per the gardener point of view they can be categorized in many ways but the most valuable and perfect way is using the stem structure:
1. Rex
This plant has very impressive foliage with pink and dark black color.
It belongs to a sub part of rhizomatous begonias, these are used as a house plant for decorative purposes.
They are semi-tropical plants and thrive in both environmental conditions of indoor and outdoor.
2. Tuberous
They come in dark bold color with attractive flowers and I say in all the begonias they look quite amazing. It has tuberous root which is round and having fleshy appearance.
They bloom in the middle of summer till the fall and the good thing is you can store them indoors when they go dormant in winter.
These begonias can grow in ground as well as small to large containers. The foliage is of different color including white, orange , yellow, red, pink.
3. Hardy
They grow in zone 6 and this species belongs to begonia grandis and they are actually perennial where warm climates exist in the southern region.
They have white and pink flowers which are small and this begonias is very similar to tuberous begonias.
4. Fibrous Root
Some varieties I am naming are included in this fibrous root structure are dragon-wing, wax begonias and cane variety and the others have normal root balls with very thin roots.
The leaves of this type have a round shape with green and yellowish or white in borders(some of them) and it looks waxy and kind of small.
Same as leaves , flowers are also relatively small but yes they are colorful & bright , its size is about 1 to 1.5 inches.
In winter transfer them indoors as this may survive the cold weather, If you used a good potting mix. They may be blooming in winters also.
Here is the link to buy begonias for sale :
Begonia 3 in 1 Collection
When to plant Begonia
Begonia can be planted in early spring and this may help it grow well. As you know they hate cold weather so growing them at the time of frost is not a good idea, so wait for the winters to go away. These plants can tolerate above 55° F and don’t handle below 51 °F as this may cause harm to begonia plants.
When to plant Begonia Tubers
You can plant a begonia tuber just after the end of winters so it can get most of the moisture that will help its rhizomes grow. The roots can be planted 1 inch deep and to grow them , prepare well drained soil please check the caring guide above to make that soil. And keep them moist until the roots start to develop. In the spring season they will develop roots and stems so now this is the time you can give them fertilizer , I am using Miracle gro. This way your plant gets everything it needs. Also don’t grow them in winter they can’t tolerate temperatures below 49 °F. Plants can tolerate some level of humidity but tubers don’t so make sure to remember those points.
How far apart to plant Begonias
The tuber of this plant can grow less than 1 feet meaning about 7-9 inch apart from other plants you can plant this. Use potting soil and check the caring guide to know how much perlite or peat moss require to make a good soil mix. The tuber can be placed 1 inch deep and the hollow side should be at the top. find a good place where it gets only shade , and give it water timely to moist the soil. It takes about 3-4 weeks for the tuber to show roots and once it develops made roots you can shift the container to some indirect light location. You can not only grow these indoors but also outdoors , the only thing to remember is don’t grow them in cold weather/ winters.
Most Search Question:
Begonias indoors
Growing Begonias indoors needs a good location and time to time water spray on its leaves for humidity. It grows very well indoors as winters are bad for them because they might freeze in that period of time so they need an indoor environment which is not cold but less cold and they may survive there. The 2 most popular begonias which can tolerate most winter are fibrous and rhizomatous and the 3rd one which is tuberous begonias requires humidity as what i explained above and some light daily for winter survival.
Begonias in pots
Some varieties like wax begonias have roots compact in pot as this might help them in growing and strengthening their stem. If the Pot is the same size as the plant they thrive better in it. There are so many examples where growing begonias in pots is successful and also easy. A Fit pot with the right amount of everything including food, care, water and sunlight, fertilizer will make this plant grow very well.
Begonias sun or shade
These flowers love to be in dark shade areas and they thrive easily there and they are not sun loving plants. But Some of its variety grows in full sun or shade. And As they say it doesn’t need sun but if you can give them 2 hours of sunlight they might get rid of sogginess in soil if its soil has been flooded with water.Indoors you can place them near windows where they are not getting direct sunlight. Inside the house near the window some people use curtains to provide them with filtered light and they thrive very well there.
Begonias and oleander
Begonias can spread 7-8 inches and have a height about 1-2 feet tall while Olender is bigger in size and can spread 1-4 m and have a height about 9-12 feet tall. Begonias have heart shaped leaves while oleander have long linear, narrow, globe and oval shaped leaves.
Two similarities that I got to know is both plants don’t have additional thrones to protect themselves from the animals.Second is the Oleander flower has different colors like red, white, pink, cream etc. and same way most begonias flowers are red, white and pink in colors.
Oleander are poisonous & its every part is harmful for any cat, dog , pets. It is also linked with begonias as these are quite similar to oleander and they can be grown together as the flower color of both the plants look good together.
Source used :
https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/begonia/
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