Hi, I'm looking for a begonia variety the has longer stems on the leaves...I plan on using them in floral arrangements and I'll need some decent stem length to reach down into the vase or floral foam...any suggestions?

You might look for the cane begonias. Some of the angel wing begonias have the longer stalks as well. The foliage on the angel wings may be too large for your floral arrangements though.

How long is "decent stem length" for you? I find my cane begonias can get quite tall but the individual stems or petioles to the leaves are only a few inches. On the rhizomatous varieties however the petioles can be 2" to 12" on my own plants and surely different varieties have even longer ones. Usually, the longer the stem the larger the leaf.

I noticed the stems/petioles are rather short on most of the varieties...as far as "the longer the stem, the larger the leaf" and the "may be too large" advice, I think large and showy leaves are awesome. I don't have a problem with making the leaves the star of the arrangement and begonias have the most interesting varieties of foilage. I'll have to experiment and see how cut leaves in water will hold up. Thanks for the advice.

If you do so, please share photos. I would love to see them. I'm not artistically inclined but can appreciate others works of arts.

Here are a couple of rhizos. Not the greatest pictures but you can see the length of the stems or petieoles. Both of these are unknown varieties. The long stem you can see on the darker one is a good 12" and the one on the lighter plant is about 8" and very fuzzy.

If you go to www.begonias.org you will find a listing of begonia divisions (types) -8- and photos of these and much information on their care.

I've been to that site, used to be a member even, but have always been unable to find a photo of the one I pictured above with the lime green leaves. Found a few close ones but never exact. From your name I suspect you know a bit about begonias, do you have any idea which one it is? The leaves can get large, about 12". New leaves have the barest edge of red, no wider than a thread, and they promptly change to all green. There is never any red on the stems. This is a favorite and I would love to know more about it.

Ardesia, both your photos are undoubtedly of begonia hybrids of which there are more than 10,000 and they rhizomatous, the division with the most hybrids. That means they are difficult to know them all or identify them even with a plant or photos of stems and flowers as well as leaves unless they are very well known. I don't recognize either of these although I can tell you that both have species, B. heracleifolia in their background. There are several varieties within this species and your top photo probably has heracleifolia var. sunderbruchii in its background. I'll post a photo of that one.
Species of which there are currently only 1647 are somewhat easier to identify although photos of the flowers are generally required.

Thank you, I agree there is heracleifolia somewhere in there. I'll have to seach my photos or remember to take one when they are flowering.

Just reread my own post and my apologies, there are now 1847 new species. There is a lot of new exploration in the Orient and new species are being announced almost every month.

...and someday the geneticists will discover many of these new species are areally variations of old species and change the names. I think we are getting too smart for our own good.

I do think think some of the newly discovered plants are cool and I would love to see some of them in person.

You are right, many of the newly discovered species may prove to be varients of old ones. Ever once in a while there is a really beautifully and unusual one. A few even prove to be ones I can raise!

Back to the original post, many varieties may look good in arrangements, but often the cuttings need to stand for a few days as first rhey may tend to wilt then revive and look better as the take up water and begin to form roots.

about a "few", I have tried some of the numbered ones and may they rest in peace.

I chanced on these earlier posts today and thought I would post 3 photos if I can figure out how. The first will be a leaf of B. sizemoreae, a relatively new begonia find whose leaves have very striking hairs. Next, I will post one of my newer hybrids B. 'Homeland' whose mother is B. sizemoreae and an also rather new hybrid by Tim Anderson of Florida, B. 'Judy Cook'. The third photo is the reverse of a female bloom on B. 'Homeland.' I love some of the traits on our new finds, others are far too delicate for my deep south except in terrariums which I don't enjoy. I breed my hybrids toward heat resistance by the way. 'Homeland' gets quite large for this type as does sizemoreae.

Very interesting! I hope you will post the photos to the Data Base and don't forget to add that flower also. Please tell us more about the begonias you breed.

Those are lovelies, I really like the ones with silver markings like your 'Homeland'. Alice and I have traded cuttings for years, and she gave me some really wonderful starts of the big cane begonias like Don Miller and Sophie Cecile. I also have Looking Glass that is extremely metallic and silver but almost impossible to get the shiny leaves to show up well in a photo. Plus my namesake, Elaine, in a huge urn in the pool cage taking up a lot of space.

Don Miller

Sophie Cecile (5ft tall)


Looking Glass

Elaine (the urn is 3ft tall)

Plus four amazing little fiberous rooted types that were given to me last fall, not sure how well they'll survive the summer here, but sure are doing well right now. No idea on names of these.