Things You'll Need:
- Bypass Pruners
- Compost Makers
- Fertilizers
- Mulch
- Plants
- Plants
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Step 1
Look for plants at nurseries in spring and summer.
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Step 2
Buy Begonia grandis in 4-inch to 1-gallon containers.
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Step 3
Choose healthy-looking plants with signs of new growth in leaves and flower buds.
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Step 1
Plant Begonia grandis in part shade in well-drained soil.
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Step 2
Add a light application of organic fertilizer to the planting hole.
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Step 3
Place the plants no deeper than they were growing in the containers.
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Step 4
Set the plants 6 inches apart.
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Step 5
Mulch around but not on top of the plants with 3 inches of organic compost.
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Step 6
Water well until soil is completely moist.
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Step 1
Remove old foliage in spring, using bypass pruners to cut off the old stems.
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Step 2
Apply a light application of organic fertilizer (follow package directions) on top of the soil in early spring.
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Step 3
Mulch around but not on top of the plants with 3 inches of organic compost in spring.
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Step 4
Water well weekly until soil is completely moist in summers with no rainfall.
Comments
Begoniababe said
on 6/10/2008 Before I recently moved, I had grown begonia grandis for thirty years in northern Ohio, Sharon Township,Medina County, Zone 5. The bed soil was prepared with leaf mulch and rich top soil one time. Nothing was added after that. The soil was semi constantly moist but never soggy. It received both direct sun and shade but the roots were always moist.
These plants grew all summer to a mass of beautiful red veined leaves. In late August the blooms created a mass of pink blooms until frost. Then I knocked the cans down on top of each other as a mulch to protect form the cold temperature. In late spring after Memorial Day, I gently raked and discarded the stem debre. The new shoots would spring up quickly. and the cycle began again. I never fertilized them.
By September they had grown four feet high in a huge mound.
I had been given the startes and was told that they might not grow in no