BEGONIAS 



279 



off slowly and kept in a warm dry place over Winter in sand, can 

 be used again. You can also grow them from seed (though, on a 

 small scale, it is cheaper to buy flowering stock.) When large 

 enough, pot the seedlings and later on plant in a bench in a cool 

 house or in a frame outdoors with shade of some sort. Some of the 

 plants will flower the first season, but they are better the second. 



Small-flowering Bedding Sorts 



There is still a place for the small ever-blooming bedding sorts 

 of Begonias, all of which are usually grown on from seed sown in 

 pans about the first part of January. The seed should never be 

 covered, but gently pressed into the surface of finely sifted soil and 

 sand. Cover the seed pans with a pane of whitewashed glass and 

 apply water with a ScoUay sprinkler. A strong bottom heat will 

 help germination. Gloire de 

 Chatelaine grows from seed 

 and is by far the best rose- 

 pink; Luminosa is excellent 

 for a fiery red; Prima Donna 

 is a good soft pink; Erfordii, 

 carmine pink, and Vernon, 

 with its dark leaves and 

 orange-carmine flowers are 

 always effective when plant- 

 ed in masses. • 



There are other Begonias 

 which, while not as showy nor 

 as valuable for Christmas 

 plants, are, as a rule, good 

 house plants and deserving 

 of more appreciation. When 

 weU grown in a 55-deg. house, 

 with their showy flower clus- 

 ters, they always find ad- 

 mirers. 



B. incarnata Sanderii, 

 with its soft pink flowers and 

 fine foliage, is one of the most 

 attractive of the whole faimly . 

 MetaUica, with its beautiful 

 metallic or lustrous bronze 

 leaves, is a fine foliage plant 

 and still more attractive when 

 loaded with small clusters of 

 creamy white flowers. Thur- 

 stonii is a fine house Begonia 

 with large, glossy green 



Fig. 108. — ^Begonia Gohaluna de Lu- 

 cerne. Showing into what a fine specimen 

 this beautiful Begonia can be developed 



