Monty, the well known celebrity gardener, made a crass remark during a broadcast of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show a while back on BBC Two, which was covered widely in the press. "I hate a plant because it is repulsively ugly and that’s the begonia.” He added: “Don’t tell me that anybody likes begonias.” Well, Monty, I love them and so did my dad.
I find the modern, politically correct take on gardening a bit strange. You know, "a weed is a plant growing in the wrong place" while at the same time decrying beautiful plants like dahlias as common. I once grew dahlias from a 10 pence pack of seed and then overwintered the tubers for many years, attracting lots of compliments - and some questions as to what the plants were. "Ah, you see, they are deeply unpopular, so not many folk grow them now" I would say.
I love the fibrous rooted annual begonias because they have thick leaves and so, like geraniums, they don't suffer as much as some bedding plants if the soil dries out. They flower pretty well continuously till the frosts come. They will survive through mild winters and, if fed, will flower all over again the next year. Here some are flowering in a trough. As you can see there are two different leaf colours:
My Dad introduced me to the corm type begonias. Well actually he gave me some. He'd been given a few corms by a friend who said he wanted them back in a couple of years, by which time Dad should have at least four of his own. This is because you can divide them after lifting them for the winter. Dad's friend didn't actually want any corms back as by then he had more than he needed. And within a few years so did Dad. So he gave me some. And over 25 years later here are just a few of my begonias flowering yet again this year:
I don't divide them every year else I'd have hundreds. As my sons now they have their own gardens I've given them some corms and here are some flowering in older lad's garden this year:
Now you can buy begonia corms from garden centres. They are often showier, with complex flowers but, in my experience, they are only good for one season. I don't know why. And they don't flower continuously for months on end.
I'm very attached to my begonias, though I'll grumble in November when I have to lift and dry them all for the winter and again in April when I'm planting them out. But then my buggeronias (as I'm wont to call them when I should have planted them out several weeks ago) will flower from July (earlier if you start them in a greenhouse) till the first frost, usually in November. And they don't complain much over a lack of TLC. What an amazing bounty of flowers, all for free, for decades and indeed across generations. Dad's gone but his begonias go on.
Begonias are wonderful and not just because they remind me of my Dad. So Monty, do you like sex and travel? Well go and do one, then.
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