re: #706 Killgore Trout

The tropicals forum and the begonia forum are my favorites. And container gardening …I garden in containers exclusively. (Moving can be a nightmare, I have over 100 pots, some that have been with me for 15+ years.)

Bonsai is appealing to me. I’ve dabbled in it but my mom is the connoisseur. My thing is the cane begonias, especially the ones that are rare or newly collected (South America, Thailand, Indonesia, etc.) They tend to have sturdy stalks like bamboo. I’ve one 6’ tall begonia that I started from one cutting sent to me by a garden club member from Scandanavia in ‘97. I’ve single-handedly got it proliferated in this area …heck, probably most of South Louisiana by now. It’s the only begonia that develops a caudex base over the years and is just now being recognized as such and sought after by the bonsai enthusiasts.

Desert Rose also has the wonderful caudex base (I think of them as fake-bonsai) and I have an elderly collection of them also, always trimmed to maintain optimal visual appeal and form. They’re to die for when they start blooming.

These begonias live for years and bloom profusely. They root easily from cuttings. If you’re interested in getting some of the more unusual and rare ones, I’d be happy to send a big box of cuttings to you. I’d be curious to see how they fare in a hydroponic setting. I’ve always got a vase or two of cuttings sitting in water at my kitchen window; they can live in it indefinitely.