Begonia rex-cultorum ... Rex Begonias

I have a small collection of Rex Begonias, commonly known as the Painted Leaf Begonia, and they hold a special place in this gardener's heart.  I have my little potted collection sitting on a shelf just outside one of my kitchen windows.  This shelf is part of the Shadehouse Garden which runs down that side of my house and they simply love this spot.  I love that I see them every time I walk into my kitchen and they really are a wonderful sight!

They have the most fabulous showy foliage and this is what attracted me to these plants from the beginning ...

but I also adore their pretty little pink flowers.  Now admittedly the flowers do get rather lost amongst the myriad of colours and patterns in the leaves of the Rex, but they do deserve some recognition for their beauty as well.

I know these plants have a reputation in many parts of the world as being high maintenance and difficult to grow.  In my part of the world ... the northern tropics of Australia ... I find them to be a plant that's easy to maintain.  Of course, the reason my Rexs thrive so beautifully in their spot out in the Shadehouse Garden is because the conditions there suit them to a tee!

Whilst the Shadehouse is outdoors and open to the elements, only being covered with shadecloth, the Rexs are protected from heavy rain as they are located on a shelf that sits under the eaves of the house.

It's important to protect Rex Begonias from our 'wet' season as they really don't thrive in wet conditions.  Over-watering is their number one killer.  I always allow the soil to dry out in between watering.

Like most Begonias, they store moisture in their stems and are rather succulent-like in that regard, so they are terrific water-wise plants and can survive extended dry periods.  This is feature that makes them a perfect addition to my dry tropics garden.

Rex Begonias love humidity ... and we have that in abundant supply all year round here in the tropics.  Humidity levels rarely ever drop below 50% here ... and there are days when it hits 100%.  The Rexs love it! 

They are best kept in bright light, but not full sun.  The shadecloth that covers the Shadehouse garden offers protection from the harsh direct tropical sunshine by diffusing the light and blocking out 70% of the tropical sun's harmful UV rays.  The Rexs enjoy these dappled light conditions.

Apologies I do not know any of the cultivar names for my Rex Begonias.  I bought all mine from nurseries around here and they were simply labelled as 'Rex Begonias'!  Since the nurseries here in my corner of Oz are not exactly stocked to the rafters with Rexs, my collection remains quite small but I'm forever on the lookout for other hybrids.

Here in the tropics, the Rex Begonias are evergreen plants, so I can enjoy their beauty all year round.

Have a look at loads of other beautiful flowers at the Today's Flowers meme.

 

Today's Flower ... Pentas lanceolata.

I just couldn't do without Pentas in my garden.  I've had at least one shrub in every garden I've had the joy to tend.  They are, without a doubt, THE most reliable, fuss-free, sun and heat hardy, great looking shrubs for any tropical garden.

I have quite a few varieties and I'm afraid I don't know the cultivar names for any of them!  Many were pass-alongs and those I bought as little plug seedlings were not labelled with anything other than 'Pentas'. 

These fabulous little evergreen shrubs will grow to around a metre in height and here in the northern tropical areas of Australia, they flower reliably all year round.

The flowers are star-shaped and bloom in little bunches all over the plant.  In fact, one of their common names is the Star Cluster plant.

Despite being known as 'Pentas', which implies that the flowers have five petals, you will notice that there are six-petalled blooms occasionally thrown into the mix.  

They come in the most amazing array of colours ... pinks, lavender, purple, white, red.  I have quite a few different colours and I'm always on the lookout for newer varieties.

 The red Pentas I have also has terrific variegated leaves which are a great contrast to the rich colour.

I like mixing colours that are not considered great combinations ... the results are quite lovely sometimes.

My favourite combination of Pentas colours, however, is definitely the stark white and the deep red.  They are a perfect match.

For other terrific flower posts, please go and visit Today's Flowers

Gazanias .... like rays of sunshine in a garden!



It's Summer here Downunder and our 'wet' season has started with a bang!   During December, which is the first month of our Summer, we experienced weeks of showery rain with thunderstorms, then a cyclone passed close by dumping torrential downpours of rain and over the whole month we had endless weeks of gloomy grey skies ... it's this time of year that one of my favourite perennials really struggles. 

Yes, it's true that Gazanias are heat tolerant, sun tolerant, drought tolerant .... so it definitely suits my dry tropics garden for most of the year.

Here in the southern hemisphere Gazanias are perennials and one of my all-time favourites.  Any sun-loving plant, that thrives in hot weather and survives on very little water is a welcome addition to my garden.

Right now, though, hot dry sunny spots are hard to find ... and the clumping Gazanias in my garden are not showing as many bright cheerful faces as usual. 

Usually these bold colourful sunrays burst open at sunrise and then close up for the night.  But when the sun is hiding behind a thick grey cloudcover that blankets the entire sky, they hide their bright shiny faces.

Our 'wet' season is such a hard time for these plants.  Too much water causes them to rot and too little sunshine means they start to die back.

I have finally learned my lesson regarding growing Gazanias here in my particular spot of north-eastern Australia.  Whilst they thrived all year round during the many drought years out in the garden beds, when the usual 'wet' Summer seasons returned just over two years ago, I had to re-think the way I used Gazanias in my garden.  There were huge clumps of them filling quite a few corners of my outdoor garden beds and I lost them all after the torrential rainy seasons soaked the ground for weeks and weeks.

So, now I have them planted in my garden beds only from Autumn through to Spring, which is our 'dry' season, but when the Summer arrives, they go straight into pots.  Doing this means I can now keep them going from one year to the next in this particular corner of the world!

I'm joining in the Today's Flowers meme today, so please pop over and visit this wonderful meme by clicking on this link: Flowers From Today

I'm also joining Noel's meme  Hot, Loud and Proud ...



... and Mary's meme Mosaic Monday