aspenhill's blog: Hardy Begonia

Tuesday
I always think this plant or that plant is my favorite when I see them, but truth be told, I have too many favorites for any single one to be THE favorite. The favorite at the moment is hardy begonia, which is in full bloom as fall gets underway.

I received a hardy begonia at one of the first Mid Atlantic plant swaps that I attended, back in the 2008 timeframe. It came from Devon, who was active on DG when I first joined, but she like so many other favorite people, has moved on due to time and other obligations. Devon had a backyard garden in Washington DC that was mature and lush with many shade perennials - my preference for my own gardens. Her hardy begonias were a sight to behold.

I planted the pass along from her on the shady hillside of the Pond Path. I thought it would be perfect conditions, but the following year it was a no show. Devon gifted me another at the next plant swap. I planted it again on the shady hillside of the Pond Path but placed at a spot with a bit more sun, but the following year it was a no show again. The conditions were so similar to hers, so what gives I didn't want to keep killing her gifted plants off year after year, so I did not take her up on continued offers, although she was more than happy to keep sharing.

At some point, I couldn't resist and got one more. That spring the gardening got away from me and plants sat on nursery benches on the basement patio for months and most remained there over the winter. The next spring I assessed what plants were still alive in the "staging area", and of course the begonia wasn't one of them. Imagine my surprise when a few years later, could it be??? Yes! Several hardy begonia babies were happily growing at the base of the low stone wall where those nursery benches were. In a thin smear of dirt over top of the concrete patio of all things!!! That last gifted begonia must have dropped seeds before it died.

Last fall when we were getting the stone veneer project done, I asked the stonemason to leave a gap between the veneer and the low stone wall so those begonias could keep growing. Well, the crew got the message to leave the gap, but they scraped and cleaned all the dirt off that little strip of concrete Knowing that those begonias were history was the loss of something treasured. This spring though, there they were. Some must have rooted in the dry stacked stone wall. Seeing plants surviving and doing their thing against the odds is unbelievably heartwarming.

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