MR-06484 1995

To Order

Cultivar Trials of Bedding Plants

BEGONIA

North American gardeners have adopted the begonia as one of their favorites. The begonia is a compact or trailing plant that grows and flowers continuously from small plants through to the killing frost, and can even be brought indoors for the winter.

Begonias grow from cuttings, but commercial production is mostly from seed requiring light to germinate. Seeds are very fine and can rarely be sown successfully directly into a garden. Seeds should be started in greenhouses at least eight weeks before the weather is warm enough to transplant outdoors.

The trend in breeding is toward developing plants which flower earlier in packs. Colors include white, red and pink in fibrous begonias (Begonia semperflorns-cultorum), plus orange, yellow and some with second color edging in tuberous forms (Begonia x tuberhybrida). A new type is Begonia hiemalis, a fibrous-rooted begonia that grows like a tuberous begonia.

Narrow-petaled types of begonias have been supplanted in the market by cultivars with broad petals and more abundant and larger flowers. Foliage may be green, red or bronze.

Begonias can be grown in either sun or open shade, but they do not compete well when interplanted between other annuals or perennials, or in the root areas of woody plants such as trees. Plant heights can range from 6 to 10 inches. Spaced properly, begonias produce solid beds or groups for garden landscapes, or for filled planters and window boxes.

Tuberous and fibrous begonias accounted for 7.3 percent of the total U.S. bedding plant crop in 1994. Among growers/marketers, 38 percent rated them as excellent items.

Minnesota’s begonia trials in 1994 looked at all three types of begonias. All generally grew better toward the end of the season.

Table 1. Begonia cultivars evaluated in the 1994 bedding plant trials at Grand Rapids, Morris and St. Paul.


			Plant Height (inches) ²			Plant Spread (inches)				Overall Quality Rating ⁴
Cultivar	Type	Seed Source¹	Grand Rapids	Morris	St. Paul	Grand Rapids	Morris	St. Paul	Flower Size (inches)³	Grand Rapids			Morris		St.Paul
Cultivar	Type	Seed Source¹	Grand Rapids	Morris	St. Paul	Grand Rapids	Morris	St. Paul	Flower Size (inches)³	8/10	9/6	9/15	8/5	9/9	7/27	9/21

Olympia Mix	fibrous	EB	4.0	7.0	7.5	5.0	7.0	7.5	1.3	2	5	3	6	8	5	9
Party Fun	fibrous	EB	6.0	10.0	13.0	9.0	11.0	11.0	1.6	3	5	4	8	8	5	9
Rio Formula Mix	fibrous	SG	7.0	7.0	9.0	8.0	8.2	7.5	1.4	5	8	5	7	8	5	9
Varsity Formula Mix	fibrous	SG	5.0	5.0	9.5	8.0	7.0	9.0	1.1	3	8	4	7	8	3	9
Vision Red	fibrous	EB	6.0	8.0	10.5	7.0	7.0	9.0	1.1	3	5	4	7	9	4	8

Charisma Coral	hiemalis	EB	–	–	6.0	–	–	5.0	1.8	–	–	–	–	–	3	5
Charisma Orange	hiemalis	EB	4.0	–	7.5	7.0	–	5.0	1.8	1	4	2	–	–	1	5
Panorama Orange	tuberous	EB	8.0	–	–	13.0	–	–	2.5	3	2	4	–	–	–	–
¹ See Source List for seed source key. ² Mature height including flowers; site average. ³ Width of single blossom; value given is average across sites. ⁴ Rating on 1 to 10 scale for floral display and foliage quality.

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