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Following the success of Begonia heracleifolia (which Plant Delights reports hardy to 15°F/-9°C!), I’ve become more interested in zone 8 hardy begonias. This blogger in D.C. has written two postson the subject; in the latter, he mentioned U508. One of the local nurseries stocked some a few months ago, and while I was tempted, I retained doubts about whether or not I could keep it alive. Yesterday, I went back and there were still 3 or 4 left. I bought one, along with an unidentified rex and Begonia barsalouxiae (the second plant, formerly U434 – the U stands for unidentified.) I don’t expect the latter two to be cold hardy, but they’re pretty and I was looking for begonias, so why not?
The last plant is Begonia pedatifida, which Plant Delights reckons is hardy to zone 7b “at least”. U538 should be arriving early next month; Plant Delights says it’s hardy in zone 8, DC Tropics disagrees. Plant Delights is in Raleigh, North Carolina; both Raleigh and D.C. are in humid subtropical climates, but both have more severe winters and fewer intensely hot days than Austin. Extreme, drier heat is really what’s going to make the difference between here and there, I think. B. heracleifolia has rather thick, tough leaves for a begonia, which no doubt helped it deal with our summers. U508 is definitely thinner-textured, so browning and curling of leaf edges is likely. B. pedatifida feels like it will do well once it gets some size on it.
I’m not actually going to test out hardiness this year, because they’re in pots and stressed from various things (shipping or haphazard nursery care). They’ll be allowed to grow out first, and then get heat-tested, then we’ll consider burying them in leaves or something for the winter. If they live that long.
Guys, they stole/kidnapped my crysanthemum from my hobby garden. It had been with me for almost 3 years, and I had planted it right in the centre of my hobby garden this year. And I was so happy it was growing well. But when I went this weekend I saw that someone dug it out with a spade and took it and there is only a huge hole left in the ground. It was right in the centre of the garden and it was encircled with small rocks. So there’s no way it was mistaken for any other plants growing wild. It’s frustrating to see plants disappearing or being damaged in your garden, and what kind of people am I surrounded with when I’m in the garden
part of me would start designing the thorniest, most poisonous (but still beautiful) garden so that the next plant thief/vandals get a bit more of an unpleasant experience.
but then again that’d unrealistic of me (for a lot of reasons) but a passive aggressive gardener can dream. I hope people in your neighbourhood start getting their moral decency together so that you don’t have to deal with more of this stuff.
Kihaku-Gato's Garden Blog (tumblr import) 