Begonia (hardy)

I did nt know you could get hardy Begonias I shall look forward to see it flowering.

Hi Sheila, I think I would take the 'hardy' bit, with a pinch of salt, it looks like B grandis subsp, evansiana, which is hardy down to h2, {1 - 5c}, so it should be kept in a frost free greenhouse over winter, Derek.

My Begonia evansii has lived outside since I bought it from Spinner's Nursery about 17 years ago. It always surprises me how late it is into regrowth each year. I cover mine overwinter with bark chippings.

Hi Siris, how deep do you put the bark chippings ?, a few inches would probably keep the temperature above 1c where you are, but where I am I would probably need about a foot, but in my opinion if a plant needs that sort of protection, it isn't hardy, the lowest temperature I've seen in my garden is minus 22c in the bad winters we had a few years ago, so they would have had no chance of surviving, that's 1 of the drawbacks of living on the pennines?, Derek.

wow that looks like a lot of leaf from so small a pot!

Interesting one HB......

Derek, I put a couple of inches mulch of bark/dead dry leaves over the Begonia. I feel there is is a point where ones situation overcomes the effort, and I wouldn't buy in the first place.