Dazzle With Begonias

If you really want to know how to make a splash with begonias, visit parks and gardens in summer and be inspired by dazzling displays of massed begonias along with other summer bedding annuals.

- Alice Spenser-Higgs

Last year, on a trip to Russia, I was bowled over by beautifully composed beds of begonias, alyssum, marigolds and silvery dusty millers in Moscow’s Kremlin Palace gardens, as well as in Saint Petersburg and around the many beautifully restored churches and cathedrals.

Even though we don’t have that kind of space, try doubling up or even trebling the number of begonias you normally plant in a bed, as a border for roses, on the pavement or as a groundcover. The brilliant splash of color will stop everyone in their tracks. And here is the next best thing: bedding begonias (Begonia semperflorens) are the most drought-tolerant of all begonias.

The waxy coating on the plant’s green or bronze leaves reduces the loss of water from the leaves, and the water stored in the fleshy stems allows plants to withstand periods of drought with just occasional watering.