Wax Begonias

I can officially say that all my Wax Begonias had died.
Somehow in the past I managed to propagate them.
Out of 8 cuttings, 2 or 3 will manage to survive and I was able to keep the species going.
This time - its beyond my scope as all have died.

I had bought the brown one too to try my luck for the second time.
But it too proved unsuccessful.
Somehow I find that these ones are more challenging
compared to the Canes and Rhizome ones.

These fall under the their botanic name: Begonia semperflorens.
Tuberose Begonias seemed to have a rose like flower which also proves challenging.

Another thing is that they easily grow under shade where its moist (almost soggy)
between bricks and moist
See last 3 pictures
These actually grow well like that.
If you can replicate that - I'm pretty sure they can thrive well.

Memory of Nettles & Waxes

My coleus had overgrown and the branches are falling and snapping all over and the the plants place at the fence are looking very unattractive, thinking of re-arranging and resorting again.

I had pruned all the coleus and replanted them in the box containers. And the whole porch is now messy with mud, dirt, plants and more plants.

Need to clear them soon before my wife starts to make noise.

Well, lets see how all these plants progress as the next rearrangement is on the way during this coming weekend + holidays.
(yea..yea.. more time to garden)

Addition notes:
The red & green bordered leaved plant is the coleus. The green with pink flower is wax begonia.
Both are growing together in a planter box.

Planter Box updates

My planter box had done well, especially coleus where I had placed 4 different types of it in it.
They look so much better from the day I had started. These coleus seemed to grow tall and there is a landscape now.
(click on garden update "label" for this progress)

But the low height plants don't to do well and I may have to transfer them, probably will do it in these few days. Especially my pepperomia (seemed like going MIA)

I had removed the curly leafed begonia and gave it away to my friend as a gift. Hope its doing fine as its quite hardy actually.

the wax begonia had started flowering - nice.

Wax Begonia (Begonia semperflorens)

Compared to most begonias, this one is the most difficult to cultivate. They are not the easy type when comes to propagation. Very often it succumb to branch rot.

The plant may be propagated using seeds (very fine dust type seeds) from the seed pods as it may be self sowing type but I rarely experienced this taking place in my garden. Apparently this one is thriving in my mother in law's garden. She planted in near the drain side. Then was once when the rain season began and all the wax begonias started to rot and die.

Tips & Care:

1) Prefer semi shade - direct sunlight may make the leaves close upward and burn the leaf edges.

2) Propagation using stem, try planting it side way. Placing too deep the stem may cause stem rot. Another way is to place the stem in water for few days then place it in the soil.
Also, its best to water the parent plant first before taking a cutting for propagation.

3) Prone to whitefly, mealy bugs, aphids and crown rot if the soil is kept too wet. Always inspect the plant for pests time to time as it will not infect other plants in the garden.