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.

 

Impatiens hawkeri - New Guinea Impatiens

New Guinea Impatiens - Impatiens hawkeri - are one of my all-time favourite perennials.  They are so well suited to my dry tropics garden.  They're definitely sun-lovers, but many people are fooled into believing they can take full sun all day ... that is certainly not true here in the tropics.  During our fierce Summers, they will wither very quickly if subjected to a full day out in the blazing sunshine.

Yes it is true they are far more sun-loving than the other Impatiens species, such as Impatiens walleriana, but in my dry tropics garden during Summer, I have New Guinea Impatiens in positions where they can only enjoy direct morning sunlight.  In the Autumn-Winter though, they will sit out in full sun all day quite happily, as long as the roots are kept moist!

They form tight compact little bushes to around 45 cm in height and have great lance-shaped leaves that can vary from dark glossy green to bronze, and variegated as well.

They will flower continuously throughout the warmest months here, from late Spring right through to Autumn.  The single flattened flowers come in an amazing range of colours such as whites, pinks, reds, mauve and coral.  Sometimes the flowers can be up to 7 cms in diameter!

My favourite is definitely the white which really brightens up my Shadehouse Garden.

The red and orange Impatiens hawkeri have their own beauty though.

Some of the new cultivars have deep dark red veins running through the dark leaves and this makes handsome looking foliage.


They may also have fabulous variegated leaves with these dark red veins ...

... and have lovely two-tone flowers.

All my New Guinea Impatiens are in pots and are almost fuss-free plants in my garden.  I do have to take care with the watering, however.  They require a moist, well-drained soil.  Too wet and they will rot ... if they dry out, they will wilt quite badly!  Now while the wilted plant will recover quickly after watering, it's already suffered stress and will often drop all the flower buds and so have less flowers.  The leaves will also often drop and/or turn brown around the edges.  My potted New Guinea Impatiens love to be fertilised quite regularly with a water soluble fertiliser ... I always put some slow-release fertiliser in the potting mix as well. 

Alocasias - an aroid that adds that architectural element to the tropical garden.

Now of course these aroids need to be placed carefully in a garden such as mine.  While they certainly love the humidity and heat, they would not survive out in the full sun in an outdoor garden bed during our summers - the searing rays of the full sun and the dry conditions would be less than ideal for these ornamental plants. 

The conditions in my greenhouse, however, are ideal for my Alocasia macrorrhiza - the Elephant Ear. This is such a great looking variety with its huge, glossy, green leaves with raised veins.

At the moment it's still quite young, but it is growing so well in the part shade and moist soil in the greenhouse garden bed.  I just love watching the large new leaves unfurling ...

 

My other alocasia ...

... is the striking hybrid Alocasia amazonica, commonly called the African Mask.  It has glossy, very dark green, leaves with silvery veins and undulating margins, making it look rather like a bat wing.

You will notice the spectacular foliage of this plant immediately in this grouping of potted plants out beside the pond in my courtyard garden.   In this location it receives only morning light and is in shade for the rest of the day.  It loves this rather bright humid spot nestled in amongst other plants right beside the pond.

This one is in bloom at the moment and showing it's inflorescence ...

I have another Alocasia x amazonica growing in an outdoor garden bed ... but certainly not in a position where it would get full sun.  It's in a bright spot where it only receives direct morning sun and remains in shade for the rest of the day and is growing a moist sheltered spot at the side of the garden bed.  

Overall, I find the amazonica needs bright light to survive ... I have tried growing it in the greenhouse, but it was not happy and very quickly showed signs of distress.  Outdoors, however, they have thrived given the right conditions.