BEGONIACHATTER

Astro Branch

American Begonia Society

4513 Randwick DriveHouston, Texas 77092-8343(713) 686-8539

Next Meeting:DATE: September 6, 2020TIME:PLACE: CanceledPROGRAM:

September 2020 Issue www.begoniahouston.org

MEETING CANCELED

Here we are heading into fall, spring is behindus and summer is coming to a close very quickly.We hope that your begonias are still growing wellfor you and tolerating our very hot days with a bitof occasional misting. Our September meeting isonce again canceled. Covid-19 is still with us,getting better but still with us nonetheless. WestGray Multi-Service Center is closed and we havelimits on gathering size in effect. Let us not forgetsocial distancing.

Let us look forward to November or perhapsDecember and cross our fingers we can meet. Weall miss seeing and chatting with each other andabove all talking about begonias.

Please continue to stay safe and well. Pleasepick up the phone and call your begonia friends orsend them an email and tell them how you are andbrag on how well your begonias are doing. Evenmake someone jealous by including a picture.

Happy Growing!Tom

Photo of B. heracleifoliasubmitted by Darlene Morris

WEATHER FORECAST FORSEPTEMBER 2020

According to the United States WeatherService, Houston and the surrounding areas fall inRegion 7 of the National Weather Map. Here iswhat they predict for the month of September

Our temperatures will be slightly abovenormal and our precipitation will be near normal.Our average temperature should range from 74degrees in the North to 80 degrees in the South.Our coolest temperatures for September will beSeptember 5th thru 9th, 18th thru 21st and 29th &30th. Our warmest temperatures for Septemberwill be September 1st thru 4th, 11th thru 16th and23rd thru 27th. There will be a moderate hurricanethreat early in the month becoming high atmid-month. There will only be a few showers andthunderstorms over the region, otherwise, at about4 day internals Precipitation will be most widespread along the Gulf.

(The weather forecast above is taken from theHarris Farmer’s Almanac for 2020)

HAPPY BIRTHDAYTO YOU!

Happy Birthday wishes to all our membersborn in September. We hope your special day istruly a special one.

Marce Ace Pamisa September 30th

Pat Perry September 1st

Kenny Wilkerson September 8th

Susan Willis September 30th

“Take  a  few  moments  to  remember  all  the  goodthings you’ve seen and done, ways you’ve grownand things  you’ve learned. Celebrate yourmemories  and  your  dreams…everything  that  hasmade you the wonderful person you are.”

“Happy Birthday”

PRUNING, PLANTING ANDTRANSPLANTING

September2nd & 3rd Pisces7th & 8th Taurus12th & 13th Cancer20th & 21st Scorpio24th, 25th & 26th Capricorn29th & 30th Pisces

October2nd & 3rd Pisces7th & 8th Taurus12th & 13th Cancer20th & 21st Scorpio24th, 25th & 26th Capricorn29th & 20th Pisces

*** Planting and Transplanting are best done inCancer, Scorpio and Pisces with Cancer being thebest.*** Best Pruning for quick growth is first inTaurus and then in Capricorn.

(The pruning, planting and transplanting datesabove have been taken from the Harris Farmer’sAlmanac for 2020)

B. henryi @ Galloway Garden, N.C.

No Vacancy:The Necessary Art of Culling

OrWhat to do when your Begonia

Collection Explodes

By Dianna Wilkerson, Fred A. Barkley Branch

Don’t be too hard on yourself. It happens toeveryone at some point. You tell yourself that it’sjust one cross. Just one! But it doesn’t end theredoes it? Why no. Just one more, then another.Like an addiction be it potato chips or stilettoheels, you always need one more. Before youknow it, you’re awash in tiny green babies createdby your own hand. You have 8,349 begoniababies vying for the same four square feet of spaceyou can actually dedicate to them. Obviouslythey all  can’t  stay.  But how do you decide wholives and who dies? How can you make decisionslike this without finding yourself in therapy for thenext three years? Never fear. There is a way thatdoesn’t involve psychoactive medication.

The first principle is to make haste slowly. Afrightening number of plants will look exactly thesame until the first real leaves come in. Thisusually doesn’t happen until about 5 or 6 monthsalong. Don’t start culling too soon lest you pitch aplant that is truly unique and worth keeping. Thebest plant you have may be the last one to show itsindividuality. Give them a chance to show youwhat they are.

One of the most important personalitycharacteristics in plants is the ability (or not) toresist disease. Mildew is a prime concern. Yourfellow growers and the buying public will curseyour name forever if you bring them a stunninglybeautiful plant that drops its leaves every otherweek due to mildew damage. A regular regime ofspraying might mitigate some problems, butconsider that not all people are comfortablespraying their plants. A lovely plant that remainsperpetually damaged from disease is not so lovelyafter all.

Keep in mind what you are looking for fromthe cross to begin with. Are you lookingsomething radically different from either plant?Are you looking for something similar, but with adifferent bloom color? As you see plant that failto meet your morphological criteria in one way oranother, cull them.

After disease resistance and morphologicalcharacteristics consider overall vigor. As youlook at the overall group, there will be those whoare growing like mad, that are middling along andthose that  are  alive  ,  but  aren’t  happy  about  it.The ones who are merely existing should be culled

Once you have whittled your rag tag banddown to the ones you think may be worth keeping,inflict them on your friends by propagating enoughof them to parcel out around the country. Afterabout six months, call them up and see if yourfriends will still speak to you. Ask for feedback.Did it die? Take over the greenhouse? Stare atthem sullenly? Whine and demand specialtreatment? Are their friends laughing at them orstealing  cuttings  of  it?  It’s  not  an  easy  process.No  one  said  it  would  be.  Don’t  give  up.  Ifyou’re having a hard time making the toughchoices, call a fellow begonia obsessed friend andlean on them when it gets rough. Keep your witsabout you and remember that throwing out plantmaterial does NOT make you a bad person, eventhough you may feel like scum on the bottom of theocean. Keep the faith and keep growing.

(This article was taken from Volume 75September/October 2008 issue of the Begonianpage165)