OVERWINTERING BEGONIAS & DAHLIAS
Now this is going to sound plain silly but it has never occurred to me before to store tuberous begonias over winter in the same way I do dahlia tubers. Last year I dug up the dahlia tubers once the frost came and started to blacken the leaves. I cut down the stems to about 4-6" and then stored them upside down in a tray in my dry shed. The idea is that any moisture will drain away from the tubers and out of the stems. Once they were well and truly dry, I just put mine into a rough bag that I formed from garden fleece and stored them in a dry and frost-free place over winter. I replanted them again this past late spring and they have never looked better than they do in the border this year. The recommendation though is that you store the tubers over winter upside-down in dry compost, sand, vermiculite or sawdust in a tray. I don't have room for trays all over the place and I kept my dahlias, in their fleece bags, in a sheltered porch. It worked just fine.
Now I want to save at least one of my Begonia Semperflorens 'Heaven White'.
With the fibrous rooted begonia (shown above), I will just dig one up quite soon before the frost hits the ones I have planted all around my garden, put it into a pot and bring it into my home over winter. Next spring I will take cuttings and propagate more. That's the plan, anyway.
With regard to the tuberous rooted begonias which I have often grown in my hanging baskets, I got a bit of a surprise this year. Every year I tip the contents of my dead hanging baskets onto my garden border and chop the heavily rooted compost into the soil. I never, ever, waste spent compost unless I have had something like invasive like mint growing in it. I did it this early spring after just leaving my hanging baskets out all winter with just a few bits of ivy hanging from them. This spring, I removed the ivy plants and planted them into pots where they have thrived very nicely, and, as I say, chopped the rest of the contents of the hanging baskets into the garden border. A few months later, I noticed that I had two begonias growing in the border. I don't need to tell you that the begonia tubers from summer 2011 had survived my rough treatment. I suppose I must have missed chopping them with my spade.
I have other begonias planted in the trough under my kitchen window, trailing ones, and I intend to treat those with much more care and consideration. I've reduced watering many of my garden plants now that the weather is cooler. When the first frost nips the tuberous begonias they will start to die back. The tubers will absorb nutrients from the old growth at this time. When they have died back, I will carefully remove the tubers still surrounded by their ball of compost and put them in a dry, cool place in the same way that I treat my dahlia tubers. Once the rootball surrounding the tuber is dried out, I can then remove the compost, any roots, and any stems. They can be stored in the same way as dahlias. Mine will be going into fleece bags. We shall see how that works out.
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| Dahlia 'Fascination', loved by bees |
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| Fibrous rooted Begonia Semperflorens 'Heaven White' |
With regard to the tuberous rooted begonias which I have often grown in my hanging baskets, I got a bit of a surprise this year. Every year I tip the contents of my dead hanging baskets onto my garden border and chop the heavily rooted compost into the soil. I never, ever, waste spent compost unless I have had something like invasive like mint growing in it. I did it this early spring after just leaving my hanging baskets out all winter with just a few bits of ivy hanging from them. This spring, I removed the ivy plants and planted them into pots where they have thrived very nicely, and, as I say, chopped the rest of the contents of the hanging baskets into the garden border. A few months later, I noticed that I had two begonias growing in the border. I don't need to tell you that the begonia tubers from summer 2011 had survived my rough treatment. I suppose I must have missed chopping them with my spade.
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| Sneaky little surviving begonia! |
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| Tuberous trailing begonia growing in a trough |