i've had this one for sev years and i know where i got it - in brooklyn bot garden. and i know i only bought camelia or picotee style corms.
this one is the only surviving and it is a semi-double picotee of some sort - not what i bought for sure.
i've searched for a while - but the only similar ones are british grown large-leaf begonias. and they don't seem to have the same kind of flower.
i was thinking that due to our hot summers it is not producing a proper flower. but now i think it's just a semi-double.
this year it really grew big - 2 giant canes 2' high with at least 5 more secondary canes coming form the base. and it bloomed early in may, instead of aug. it's still producing many buds - but thrips ruined them and i pulled them off. the only flower that fully opened in may was 7" and it held for a week, doing someth peculiar. it would droop in the evening and straiten out upright in the morning. the leaves curl always (too hot?), less so in may. and are 10" long.
the closest ones i think are 'pin-up' or 'mission-bells'.
since it was bought in bot-garden and they only sell named varieties, may be even dutch? i hoped to find a match, but can't.
any ideas?
