{"id":5207,"date":"2013-08-06T12:00:02","date_gmt":"2013-08-06T16:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=5207"},"modified":"2017-10-04T18:22:16","modified_gmt":"2017-10-04T22:22:16","slug":"new-big-begonias-showier-alternative-to-wax-begonias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2013\/08\/06\/new-big-begonias-showier-alternative-to-wax-begonias\/","title":{"rendered":"New \u2018Big\u2019 Begonias Showier Alternative To Wax Begonias"},"content":{"rendered":"
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‘Big\u2122 bronze-leaf begonias with sun coleus in Johnson City, TN<\/p><\/div>\n

Wax begonias (Begonia x semperflorens) continue to be dependable a summer flowering annual for gardens and container use. They also hold up to summer\u2019s heat, humidity, and dry spells and foliage remains mostly pest and disease free. Begonia benariensis<\/em> are a relatively new introduction by the Benary Seed Co. and are trademarked as Big\u2122 begonias at garden centers. They boast larger showy flowers than traditional wax begonias.<\/p>\n

Big\u2122 begonias bloom non-stop for almost six months (mid-May thru October) in the Southern Appalachian region (USDA hardiness zones 6 and 7). Big begonias are available in bronze-leaf (full sun) and green leaf (part sun) forms. Currently, flower colors are limited to bright red (Big\u2122 Red Bronze-leaf and Big\u2122 Red Green-leaf), and rose colored (Big\u2122 Rose bronze).<\/p>\n

Flower sizes vary from 2 to 3 inches in diameter. The brightly colored blooms are visited by many kinds of butterflies thru the spring and summer months. Flowers are self-cleaning and do not require deadheading. Plants grow compact and well-branched at 18 to 24 inches high and wide. At planting Big\u2122 begonias can be minimally spaced 12-14 inches apart in garden beds or in containers.<\/p>\n

Big\u2122 begonias, particularly bronze-leaf grow best in full sun, and green leaf cultivars thrive in partial shade. Choose a site with well-drained soil and with lots of well-rotted compost added. Green leaf types tend to scorch in zones 7-b and further south in intense sunlight.<\/p>\n

Big\u2122 begonias perform best with moderate fertility and are not heavy feeders. Add 2 to 3 inches of mulch to improve soil organic matter and to conserve soil moisture. Irrigate during extreme dry spells to maintain health, vigor, and flower numbers. At spring planting, feed with a slow-release fertilizer such as Osmocote\u2122 14-14-14 or Nutricote\u2122 13-13-13. One additional feeding in mid-summer with a water-soluble fertilizer (such as Miracle-Gro\u00ae, Schultz\u00ae, or Jacks\u00ae) is often needed in southern climates (zones 7-9).<\/p>\n

Wax and Big\u2122 begonias are used for front bed edging, look awesome planted in front of evergreen shrubs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wax begonias (Begonia x semperflorens) continue to be dependable a summer flowering annual for gardens and container use. They also hold up to summer\u2019s heat, humidity, and dry spells and foliage remains mostly pest and disease free. Begonia benariensis are a relatively new introduction by the Benary Seed Co. and are trademarked as Big\u2122 begonias […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,747,985,749,674,806,602,774,551,843,777,630,705,706,646,113],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5207"}],"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=5207"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10072,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5207\/revisions\/10072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}