It’s flowering time for cane begonias
In the greenhouse they’re flowering, while outdoors you can plant out tuberous varieties
In the greenhouse the begonia cane varieties are now producing panicles of flowers and will continue doing this throughout the summer.
Cane varieties respond well to bright daylight and warm temperatures. One of my favourites is begonia ‘Lucerna’, which was hybridised in Switzerland around 1892. This is a vigorous variety which can grow to around 2m (6½ft). It can be propagated from stem cuttings by cutting the young growth, dipping the cut end into a rooting hormone and inserting into a 7½cm (3in) pot, then kept moist and placed in a warm location. To reduce moisture evaporation, cut the leaves in half. The cuttings require watering, but only start feeding when the new roots are produced. Once the cutting has a substantial
root system it can be re-potted into a much larger pot. As this is a tall, vigorous variety, grit must be added to the compost to act as ballast. Now that the weather seems to have settled down, I’ve been able to plant out my tuberous begonia bedding which has been growing on in the greenhouse for several weeks. I grow begonia ‘Le Flamboyant’, once considered to be the best red-flowered border plant, and two other varieties hybridised in Belgium around 1910, the butter yellow ‘Helene Harms’ and the apricot-coloured ‘Madame Richard Gallé’. In recent years modern hybridisers have added the ‘Bon Bon’ series, the ‘Truffle’ series and the ‘ Northern Light’ series, all of which have various colour additions. These are all new and will flower continuously, if fed with a liquid feed each week and deadheaded regularly.