Shrubby Begonia

Thats so pretty nice speckled foliage to.

Thanks! :>)) So many Begonia varieties have variegated leaves.

Mine ( the close Irene Nuss) are blooming here too. I have three clumps of it. Pieces that break I can never throw away..so..lol.
I got to give them more water..still for Begonia's they hang tough.

I ve not seen many here with varigated leaves.

Stan,

I know the feeling...can't throw those cutting out. lol!

Penny,

Many of the cane or shrubby Begonia varieties are variegated. They can grow quite large, also (many times well over 6' or 2 m tall).

Many years ago I had the spotted cane Begonia..very nice,grew fast. Then 1990 took it out. Never have seen that same one again. I think I got it at Fuji's plant Outlet.

That darn 1990 freeze! I know I lost so many plants in that freeze! :>((

Fuji Plant Outlet was my favorite nursery, ever! I knew Fuji Brothers. They were really knowledgeable about plants. I almost cried when they sold all that land for houses. It was favorite place to go in the 80's and early 90's. I purchased so many plants from Walt Fuji.

If not for that 1990 Andy,I would have a nice Hedescepe and a few uncommon Phoenix species.
Just yesterday I saw that my tallest Howea is sending out its first bloom spike- two of them. I planted that in 1992. All of 1991,I never bought a plant..I was bummed out from losing some tropicals that had reached a showy size.
Then in 1992,I thought...go for it. Just plant what you like and see what happens.
Do you know- that as of today,the 6" Jackfruit seedling I plant out is alive and looking ok? Not great- but it did go too dry in summer so looks at least as good in mid winter.

I had a Hedyscepe , also. My beautiful Ficus roxburghii was killed and so many others in the 1990 freeze.

Congratulations on the Howea budding! You'll just have to wait 2 to 5 years for the seeds to ripen. lol! I can't believe it takes so long for Howea seeds to ripen.
That's pretty unbelievable that Jackfruit would grow there. The ones here look great! There's one I see on the way to work. The leaves are a little yellow from the extremely dry, hot weather. The large Jackfruit about a mile from me is looking really good and it's very big, most likely more than 25' tall.

I also lost Howea belmoriana back then. All were seedlings..but I remember that 12" Hedescepe had pinnate fronds with the seed still attached. The Howea's must live for a couple of century's with their leisure growth.

I really like Howea belmoreana! I have two. I don't think I've ever posted photos of them. One is growing into the ground from a pot. It's gotten pretty large. It's shaded by a large Ficus buxifolia.

Hedyscepe and Howea belmoreana have about the same hardiness.

I have a feeling Howea species live for centuries.

I thought I spelled it wrong...ha. But.I was close enough. The Hedescepes are now the "In" palms..along with D.decipeans and Beccarriophoenix alfredii ( had to look that up) as hot to own. I like them all too..but gophers take me out of the big dollars investment. They already ate my Bizz,P.rupicola,and all my Chameodora's in ground. Plus a Ficus roxburgi. What they all would look like now...
All the large palms I have? Never read of anybody posting they had one killed by gophers.

One more thing Andy- the Howea's are both opening fronds right now in January. Fast too, since the largest one has gone from unfurling to open in a week or so. Best winter ever.

I can understand why Hedyscepe canterburyana and Beccarriophoenix alfredii would be very popular. They are pretty hardy and are very ornamental palms. Beccarriophoenix alfredii is one that I wish was grown 40 or 50 years ago here in California (there would be many mature specimens). They are hardy and look like coconut trees.

The trees here are growing pretty fast also...except for ones that need a lot of water. My bananas are not growing and my Archontophoenix alexandrae palms are slowing to a snail's pace. When I had the water from the washing machine going to them, they were growing so fast it was unbelievable!

I ve never seen one here row that big your lucky to have them.

Yes, they grow big and bushy in the right light and in good moist soil.

Thank you Andy I shall have to look out for one.
Has those mudslides affected you out there I ve heard on the news.?

The mudslides only affected the burn areas of Santa Barbara County (which is a 4 hour drive north of San Diego).

The burn areas of San Diego were very well prepared for the very heavy rain of last week. Luckily, they put a lot of sandbags out, well-placed. The burned areas in Northern San Diego County got 3 to 3 1/2 inches (72 to 89 mm) of rain during the two-day storm.

I am pleased to hear you have nt been affected Andy and its quite far away from you .
Quite a bit of rain they had in Nortbern San Diego the . They seems to be better prepared in San Diego than Santa Barbra then.

Yes, that's a lot of rain for just one storm. It was the first and only storm so far this winter, though.

I think most of the world is getting weird weather. Watching the history from church s records going back centries seems they to had weird weather to one to day one said a wind like never seen before going back thousands of years what monks etc had recorded in church records.