Cormaic's Garden - Plants

Garden Layout - Plants - Begonias

Tuberous Begonias are such reliable, invaluable plants when you have a shade dominated garden such as mine, and they are exceptionally good value. I use them in hanging baskets and window boxes, as well as in pots dotted around the garden, and in the shady bed, as gap-fillers for the summer.

I propogate a lot of my stock from cuttings taken during August, potted up to root in my special begonia compost, and then kept going through the winter to encourage a healthy tuber to develop, then use them in the garden the following summer. The plants with good tubers are stored over the winter, wrapped in newspaper and kept in a box of wood-shavings in the frost-free Greenhouse.

This lovely orange bedding begonia has been with me for over 5 years, and has sired at least 30 children and grandchildren. It has rich dark green leaves with no bristles, and literally drips flowers from May until the frost. The tuber is a good 6 inches in diameter now, and it has to be planted in a larger pot each year, but it keeps going. Not bad for a tuber that cost me 25p.

Orange Begonia

Below is 'Big Yellow, a beast of a begonia that reached a peak in 1998, when these pictures were taken. As you can see, it grew to a height that challenged all of Mrs Taz's 4' 10", and threw out dozens of theses massive, heavy, golden yellow flowers.

There was no special treatment, no special food, just my usual compost mix and plenty of water. I took a half-dozen cuttings that summer, but lost every single one of them over the winter months, but the killer blow in Spring of 1999 when I came to unpack the tuber from its hibernation, only to find a sorry, soggy mess. The evil vine weevils had been lunching on it all through the winter., and it is with me no more. :~(

Cormaic's special begonia compost

This recipe was passed on to me by an old neighbour, who had spent all his working life as a gardener with the local council. Apparently, the oak leaf mulch is the key ingredient, as introduces tannins and acidity that the young cuttings thrive on.
25% John Innes 2
25% multi-purpose or home-made compost
25% vermiculite/perlite or very coarse sand/grit
25% oak leaf mulch - at least 2 years old and well-rotted.
Mix all the ingredients together and loosely fill a 75mm pot before inserting a cutting, about 40-65mm long with no more than 2 leaves and no flowers or flower buds. DO NOT FIRM the mixture, allow watering and gravity to do it for you, and place the pot on a bright, but not sunny, windowsill. The bathroom is ideal, but any nort or west facing windowsill will do. Water very sparingly over the winter, and cut back if becoming too leggy.

The newly-rooted plants will be ready for planting out the following summer, once all possibility of frost has passed.