A life in miniature
Little plants can loom large for gardeners seeking stars for summer beds and borders, writes David Overend.
Many gardeners are willing to gamble when winter is over and spring is about to make a welcome appearance. So thousands if not millions of people are prepared to drive to their nearest big garden centre to stock up on plant plugs, those perfectlyformed miniatures which will, hopefully, grow to become stars of summer beds and borders.
These plants are big business for the producers, particularly when a late frost turns to mush trays of brightly-coloured blooms still waiting for the advent of June when they can be planted out. A cold snap catches out the unwary – and could force them to return to buy yet another batch of plant plugs
So unless you can grow on tender plants somewhere safe and frost-free, don’t gamble. Patience can be a virtue.
Whatever the case, many thousands of people opt for the same sort of flowering plants – and the top choices tend to be pelargoniums and wax begonias, aka Begonia semperflorens, probably the longest-blooming of any summer bedder.
Wax begonias aren’t the biggest, but they are among the best; pound for pound they can bloom from June till the first autumn frosts finally put an end to their colourful lives.
These fibrous-rooted, mound-forming, tender plants can have single or double, white, pink or red flowers and they can transform beds, borders and planters like no other flower. Plus, they take virtually no looking-after.
They like a rich, well-drained garden soil beefed up with generous amounts of compost or other organic matter to help retain moisture. Alternatively, just use a decent compost and, if you’re feeling generous, add a handful of slow-release fertilizer granules.
These little begonias like plenty of sun but they will also flower relatively well in a shady spot. Water them regularly and even if you don’t dead-head, they should continue to produce plenty of new blooms.
And when the weather man (or woman) warns of impending frost, you can lift your baby begonias, cut back all the dead and dying foliage and flower-heads, replant in fresh compost in containers and take them indoors somewhere cool where they should grow to become a welcome houseplant.