Begone Begonia (Begonia)

Member Name: mumsymary

Product:	Begonia
Date:	14/10/08 (154 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A pooular plant

Disadvantages: I am not over keen on the flowers

Yet another plant that I rescued from my dear departed Dad's house is a begonia.
The begonia that I rescued and care for is Begonia rex and is grown as a houseplant, it can be planted outside in the summer but is not winter hardy.

This plant has very attractive dark green leaves with red swirls too; in fact some of my plants leaves are redder than green. The Begonia that I have is grown more for its foliage than for the insignificant white flowers.
There are many other begonias usually bright red, pink, yellow or white colored flowers. These can be grown in flower borders or planters in the garden or on the patio. Some are good for hanging baskets. The color's are bright. You can get double or single flowers on a begonia. Personally I am not over keen on begonia flowers the petals somehow seem a bit false and waxy, I prefer simple flowers like daisies.

Begonias flower from June till October; you may have a last few flowers hanging on. But they will soon look messy flowers and leaves fading and rotting. Underneath is the tuber this is a bit like a bulb and will regrow next year.
If you can and your begonias are in a frosty area dig them up remove the soil and leave the tuber in a frost free place over winter., does not have too be dark Planting outside again after the frosts next year . You can start your begonia tubers growing again inside in February March time by keeping the soil or compost a little wet. Plant them outside after the frosts April May time.

If you have indoor begonias do not over water equally do not let them dry out water less in winter. The leaves will turn yellow to let you know something is wrong. Keep an indoor begonia quite warm between 15 c and 31c.

There are many gardening websites about begonias I found the website
http://www.rhs.org.uk/learning/publications/pubs/ garden1206/begoniarex.asp very useful when I inherited my plant .

Summary: A plant