It’s the time of the year again. Most of the plants benefited from the cool spell last week, others have barely survived. Overall the garden seems to have recovered from the heat. Had a fungicide spraying session yesterday as a safety measure of the unsuspecting rot.
The leaf cuttings of the Begonia rex have sprouted plantlets (below), altogether five. Might have to wait a further two weeks before they can be repotted to a clay pot. They are placed in bright shade at the moment, away from rain.
This Huperzia squarrosum (below) had to be staked to keep the elongating frond tips from drooping out of shape.
These fittonias (below) were bought during last year’s nursery clearance sales. They are easy growers as long as given plenty of bright indirect light and free draining medium. I feed these plants with osmocote pellets and they seem to take well.
You could say that once the weather warms up over the next few months, we should see plenty of new growth coming up. Also at this time of the year is a good time for propagating plants following fair weather.
Alvin, I can see that you are really good in growing begonias! All of them look so healthy and beautiful. No wonder you keep looking for them. But I think you will have difficulty looking out for special/new type/additon to your garden… coz… you already have a pretty good collection.
I will keep the charcoal media in mind in future. Thanks for sharing.
I have a B.heracleifolia hybrid. Mine, the leaves are much bigger. Probably because I planted it in a much bigger pot.
The Huperzia squarrosum is nice!
I apply osmocote to my fittonias also hehe…
Btw, my dark leaf begonia, I nearly killed it earlier. The leaf dried up fast when hit by sun ray/afternoon heat even when in the shade. So now, I place the plant at the coolest spot of my porch.
Happy gardening!
Hi Steph!!
Thanks for the kind comments!! My garden is quite small so I have to make the best out of the available space (I’m already running out of space now so it’s a blessing in disguise if my plants stay smaller than it should hehe..). It is suited to growing shade plants because of the awning, unfortunately so I can’t grow sun-loving plants which I really love!!
Sad news: the squarrosum is not doing well. It suddenly went yellow overnight and I’m still trying to revive it. I’m hoping it’s not due to some chemical or animal urine that caused this problem (as I have civet cats living among the rafters in the roof, they often cross over to the garden passing by the squarosum).
Hope your dark leaf begonia is doing ok now. It should recover overnight. It’s one of the tougher varieties.
Alvin
Alvin, the dark leaf begonia I mentioned here refers to the one in this post of mine… http://stephgreenspace.blogspot.com/2011/02/goody-goodies.html
Hi Alvin! I chanced upon your blog when I was searching for Begonia pics, and realized we have a few of the same contacts – Stephanie and Casey (skyfiery)..we also grow many of the same things. I used to collect Nepenthes and Drosera, but have since switched to foliage plants. Are you from GCS by chance? I’m no longer active on the forum, but the hobbyist circle is very small.
Anyway, you have helped me ID a big green monster I’ve had for ages…B. floccifera. Yay! Hope to see more blog posts from you..
Hi Angeline! Yes the circle of hobbyists here are very small especially in Malaysia. I’m no longer acquiring new plants at the moment as my current collection is under threat of negligence due to workload at the office!
Glad to know you’ve found the ID to your plant! Hope I am able to update some stuff soon. Thanks for stopping by! 😀
To be honest, i think you have the most amazing collection of begonias. They all looked healthy. Years ago, I had a tiny experience of begonia ‘Fairy’. They grew well initially but soon rotting dead 😦
Hi Joe,
Thanks for the kind comments! I hope you can start back on your Begonia collection (if time and effort permits you to do so) because not all Begonias are hard to care for. The one that you tried growing but died is actually a hybrid, and honestly telling, hybrids are not the best plants to start off with in your collection. You should look for species (aka the parents of the hybrids) but which may be difficult to find nowadays. They survive well for long periods with moderate watering, semi shade and moderate fertiliser food, you just need to cut long stems or remove old leaves every now and then. Let me know if you need help finding plants! 😀