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When given salty water, they pump it to the leaf edges, where it evaporates, leaving these same salts at the pores.
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“They evolved in areas of high seasonal rainfall, and no salts in the water. That’s because “hard” water with high mineral salt content causes leaf edge burn in rex begonias because they have no mechanism to deal with salt loads. The other key to success with rex begonias in Booman’s book is tap-water quality. masoniana also likes moist soil (not soggy) and bright indirect light. Distilled Water Above: Don’t be fooled iron cross begonia belongs to a different species. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry about the fact that I’ve probably composted a few dormant begonias in my time, but it’s also worth noting that key to these survival strategies is the moist air that the plants find in their native climes: The Begonia rex species from which all the plants were bred comes from Assam, northern India.Īnd exactly how much humidity? Fifty-five percent is the Begonia rex sweet spot, but higher will work too: “I have seen plants happily growing in wet seeps at the edges of caves in Panama where humidity hovers near 100 percent day and night,” Booman notes. Dormant leafless plants take on the appearance of a pile of snakes coiled on the soil, as the twisted old rhizomes wait for a signal from the sun that longer days have returned, making it safe to push out new leaf growth again.” “Leaves naturally begin to yellow and fall no matter how much fertilizer you apply. That’s because many cultivars have profound winter dormancy. Leaf drop-provided it occurs outside the growing season-doesn’t necessarily signal death. “The plants are native to areas with high humidity, so they don’t pump water to the leaf edges very efficiently, as compared to weeds in our yards, which seem to survive no matter how dry we let them get,” Booman explains.īut don’t despair if your once-glorious rex became a shriveled mess over winter. Their main quibble with modern homes is dry air, Booman tells me, causing brown edges on the foliage followed by leaf drop. rex to choose among, usually classified by leaf size-small (three inches or less), medium (three to six inches), or large (more than six inches). Moist Air Above: Begonia rex ‘Red Tango’ mixes well with other shade- and humidity-loving plants such as asparagus ferns and geraniums. Here are his top five tips for keeping a Begonia rex alive. I warned him I had quite a few questions about humidity levels, fertilizer requirements, water quality, how much to water-Are there special watering techniques?-and possibly more.
Finicky flowers how to#
In desperation, I turned to Begonia rex breeder Jim Booman of Booman Floral, a wholesale nursery in California, for some specialist advice on how to reverse the fortunes of my begonias and get them looking lush and lovely. The American Begonia Society calls Begonia rex “the showboat of the begonia world.” That may be, but the king begonia, or Begonia Rex Cultorum Group as they are more formally known, may just be my Achilles’ heel: a plant that simply will not thrive for me, however much care and attention I lavish on it. I have killed every one I have owned-either a swift execution, or a lingering, painful death over several seasons.īut oh, how much I want to grow these beautiful plants, with their foliage shaped like lopsided hearts (or in botanical parlance, obliquely ovate leaves) splashed, striped, and swirled with silver, pink, plum, purple, chocolate, and scarlet. Icon - Check Mark A check mark for checkbox buttons. Icon - Twitter Twitters brand mark for use in social sharing icons. Icon - Pinterest Pinterests brand mark for use in social sharing icons. flipboard Icon - Instagram Instagrams brand mark for use in social sharing icons.
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