PLANT PORTRAIT : BEGONIA MUDDY WATERS

Begonia MUDDY WATERS is a so called leaf begonia because leaf begonia’s are loved for their beautiful leafs, not for their flowers as they are usualy tiny. This one is a strong plant with almost black leafs, the back of the leafs is dark red and the edges have soft hairs. I have this plant in my collection for many years now and it is so easy to care for, always happy  weather it is dry or wet. It prefers half sun or shade but light, it prefers regular watering but I often forget to water it as most of my plants are cacti and succulents….it can survive weeks without water !! I always use all purpose soil for all my plants, for the cacti and succulents I mix it with sand and grit, for those who love it wet, I mix it with water retaining granules but for most of my plants I just use it as it is. The leafs can be used in a flower arrangement, they can be dried very well and don’t lose their pretty dark colour, the flowers are pink, pretty but tiny. They can be easily reproduced, just break off a branch and put it in soil, there are always tiny roots on the branches, really very easy. They grow medium fast and if they are too big for the space they get I remove some  stems and then I remove the biggest leafs on what is left and you ‘ll get a new small plant. I love this plant !

If you give it some plantfood it will grow faster and bigger and it will give you more flowers but as I said, it is an easy plant and always happy. A plant for the not so green fingered.

Here are a few more pictures of it.

Thanks for stopping by, keep warm or cool !

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

BEGONIA IN BLOOM

I don’t have a lot of blooms at the moment, it is still very much Winter over here and the forecast for the next 2 weeks is not very good, still frosts at night and around 0 C° during the day with some snow or rain, so I am very happy to look at your blogs, some of you have Spring already ! Makes me green with envy but happy at the same time. Of course there are small signs that Spring is comming, I have little green stumps where I planted crocusses, narcissus, muscari, chionodoxa, tulips… and some tree’s and shrubs are getting bigger buds but as the temperatures stay low it is all moving too slowly in the right direction.

The only thing that is blooming (inside my house ofcourse !) is my beautiful begonia  Muddy Waters who has almost black leafs, when the sun is shining through the leafs they are very dark red. The blooms are pink with little dark red freckles, they are small but there are many of them in a cluster. Also the form of the leafs is beautiful, I like looking at it even when it is not in bloom. It’s an easy plant, I have it for many years, it is also easy to propagate by cuttings, I like giving plants away to family, friends and clients, it is my way of making this world a bit greener.

Here are some pictures of my begonia Muddy Waters.

Have a great weekend all and thanks for stopping by !

PICTURES OF SOME OF MY INDOOR BABY’S

As I am ill and can’t play outside in the garden , I decided to make some pictures of some of my indoor plants, these are plants I can’t put outside cos of the wet and cold weather we have, even in Summer.

THIS IS A DARK LEAFED BEGONIA, ALMOST BLACK, THE BACK OF THE LEAVES IS DARK BURGUNDY RED, I LOVE THIS BEGONIA, I FIND IT EXTREMLY BEAUTIFULL, IT IS CALLED BEGONIA MUDDY WATERS

HERE YOU CAN SEE THE COLOUR OF THE BACK OF A LEAF, THEY BLOOM WITH SMALL PINK FLOWERS WITH TINY DARK PINK LITTLE DOTS

THIS IS A SILVER LEAFED BEGONIA ALSO WITH A BURGUNDY BACKSIDE, I BOUGHT IT RECENTLY SO I HAVEN’T SEEN IT IN BLOOM YET, THEY FLOWER IN WINTER HERE, IT IS ONE OF A SERIES OF BEGONIA’S CALLED MAGIC COLOURS, THERE ARE SO MANY BEGONIA SPECIES, ALL EASY AND GRATEFULL PLANTS AND BEAUTIFULL OFCOURSE

SOME SANSEVERIA’S AND IN THE FRONT 2 KALACHOE’S WITH BIG SILVER LEAFS

THESE ARE 2 “SPEKTREE’S OR ELEPHANT FOOD TREE’S ” AS THEY ARE CALLED IN SOUTH AFRICA, I WANT TO TURN THEM INTO BONZAI TREE’S BY PINCHING THE LARGEST LEAFS AWAY, THEY THEN GET REPLACED WITH SMALLER LEAFS, THE LATIN NAME FOR THIS ONE IS PORTULACARIA AFRA AND THEY ARE COMMON IN SOUTH AFRICA, IT IS ALSO A GOOD PLANT TO CLEAR THE AIR OF CO2, THERE ARE EXPERIMENTS GOING ON TO USE THEM ON A BIG SCALE

THIS IS ALL FOR TODAY, HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND ALL AND ENJOY YOUR GARDENS !