{"id":10073,"date":"2019-04-01T12:00:42","date_gmt":"2019-04-01T16:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=10073"},"modified":"2018-10-01T12:34:46","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T16:34:46","slug":"hybrid-wax-begonia-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2019\/04\/01\/hybrid-wax-begonia-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Hybrid Wax Begonia Revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Whopper Rose with Green Leaf at Chicago Bot. Garden<\/p><\/div>\n

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Big begonias with coleus and lantana<\/p><\/div>\n

Wax begonias (Begonia x semperflorens<\/em>) are popular summer annuals in\u00a0public and private\u00a0 gardens. Begonias are excellent for mass bedding, in mixed borders, and in large containers. Plants hold up to summer heat, humidity, and moderate dry spells. The foliage stays mostly pest and disease free.<\/p>\n

A few years back, two series of interspecific hybrids (Begonia benariensis<\/em>),<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>were introduced by the Benary Seed Co. and trademarked as Big\u2122 and Whopper\u2122 begonias. These hybrids boast larger showier flowers than traditional wax begonias. Color choices in the Big series are red, rose and pink. Whopper series come in red and rose only. Whopper plants grow 20-25% larger than Big.\u00a0 This means fewer plants to plant for good garden coverage which will save you money.<\/p>\n

Big\u2122 begonias bloom non-stop for almost six months (mid-May thru October (USDA hardiness zones 6 thru 9). Big begonias are available in bronze-leaf (full sun) and green leaf (part sun) forms. Bronze-leaf types\u00a0perform at their best (leaf color) in full sun, and green leaf cultivars prefer partial shade. Begonias need well-drained soils\u00a0 amended\u00a0with lots of well-rotted compost.<\/p>\n

In 2017 \u00a0Pan American Seed \u00a0released the Megawatt\u2122 series. Current varieties include ‘Red Green Leaf’, ‘Pink Bronze Leaf’, ‘Rose Green Leaf’, ‘Red Bronze Leaf’ and ‘Rose Bronze Leaf’.\u00a0Proven Winners (PW) has recently introduced\u00a0Surefire\u2122\u00a0Series\u00a0with a red and a rose variety. Expect new color choices\u00a0to be added over time.<\/p>\n

All hybrid wax begonias grow robustly, 18 to 24 inches tall and 16-18 inches in spread, by the end of summer. Plants\u00a0grow compact and are well-branched. Flower size varies from 2 to 3 inches across. The brightly colored blooms are visited by many kinds of butterflies over the long bloom season. Flowers are self-cleaning and require no deadheading. Space plants 15-18 inches apart depending on which series that you plant.<\/p>\n

Begonias perform best with moderate fertility. At spring planting, feed with a slow-release fertilizer such as Osmocote\u2122 14-14-14 or Nutricote\u2122 13-13-13. One to two additional feedings in mid-summer with a water-soluble fertilizer (such as Miracle-Gro\u00ae, Schultz\u00ae, or Jacks\u00ae) are often needed in southern climates (zones 7-9).\u00a0Add 2 to 3 inches of mulch to prevent weeds and to conserve soil moisture. Irrigate during extreme dry spells to maintain plant vigor and flowering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wax begonias (Begonia x semperflorens) are popular summer annuals in\u00a0public and private\u00a0 gardens. Begonias are excellent for mass bedding, in mixed borders, and in large containers. Plants hold up to summer heat, humidity, and moderate dry spells. The foliage stays mostly pest and disease free. A few years back, two series of interspecific hybrids (Begonia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,1218,707,747,1319,985,749,1037,674,645,806,665,602,774,853,551,843,1060,1059,729,777,1210,705,706,646,113],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10073"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10073"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11005,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10073\/revisions\/11005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}