Begonia bogneri is a very odd Begonia, as its leaves are grasslike, and it's a miniature. It's a plant from a warm, wet part of Madagascar. It's tuberous, although it does not have an obligate dormancy, grown indoors. For whatever reason, it's gotten a reputation as a difficult plant, tends to be hard to find, and it often sells for surprising amounts. However, I've found it easy to propagate, and so far, easy to grow. I understand one of the secrets is to propagate it regularly. The plant provides no shortage of material for propagation, as it it is easy to start from leaf cuttings (1 cm or larger, in moist fibrous sphagnum).
Begonia bogneri can be grown in pure sphagnum, or in a conventional light soil mix (such as perlite + peat + ?). I would imagine if one has a mesh pot full of sphagnum (which I imagine a few people do), one could simply insert one of these little guys to grow on the outside of the pot, in addition to the main plant. It could be fun. It can also be grown mounted, and grown epiphytically, although I have not yet tried that.
I only got my first plants last spring, as tiny plants that quickly grew and flowered a few months later. Here are some of the first blooms on one of them:
All plants shown are in 3 inch pots.
(the flower on the left is a female flower)
Another one, blooming today:
Back in September, I removed a bunch of leaves from one plant, and started some more plants:
I cut those leaves up into 100 pieces, and got at least 50 plants out of it. I actually thought the propagation was a partial failure, because I had gotten closer to 100% in smaller scale attempts.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/planetbegonia/search/?query=bogneri propagation tuberous
I have a few extras. I'll offer #2 and #3 for postage, #1 I'm looking for a trade, Nepenthes seeds/seedlings/cuttings/plants, with a preference towards cooler growers (highland) species or hybrids. The difference between #1 and the other two is probably about a month at this point. They do grow fast.
Begonia bogneri can be grown in pure sphagnum, or in a conventional light soil mix (such as perlite + peat + ?). I would imagine if one has a mesh pot full of sphagnum (which I imagine a few people do), one could simply insert one of these little guys to grow on the outside of the pot, in addition to the main plant. It could be fun. It can also be grown mounted, and grown epiphytically, although I have not yet tried that.
I only got my first plants last spring, as tiny plants that quickly grew and flowered a few months later. Here are some of the first blooms on one of them:
All plants shown are in 3 inch pots.
(the flower on the left is a female flower)
Another one, blooming today:
Back in September, I removed a bunch of leaves from one plant, and started some more plants:
I cut those leaves up into 100 pieces, and got at least 50 plants out of it. I actually thought the propagation was a partial failure, because I had gotten closer to 100% in smaller scale attempts.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/planetbegonia/search/?query=bogneri propagation tuberous
I have a few extras. I'll offer #2 and #3 for postage, #1 I'm looking for a trade, Nepenthes seeds/seedlings/cuttings/plants, with a preference towards cooler growers (highland) species or hybrids. The difference between #1 and the other two is probably about a month at this point. They do grow fast.