Tag Archives: Begonia

Dragon Wing™ Red Begonia

Look for this plant

Dragon Wing™ Red Begonia
The Biggest Success in my garden last year was Dragon Wing™ Red Begonia. I have these begonia plants in a big 14” hanging basket. It took a couple of weeks and the basket was ablaze with pure red flowers. They bloomed all summer giving the patio a big burst of color.

These exotic looking Begonias have loose clusters of Red stop-and-look-at-me blooms. Glossy green, wing-shaped leaves support the beautiful Chinese red flowers. My plants are healthy and thriving in a full sun environment, but they will take part shade. Everybody looks better and does better with a little afternoon shade in summer, including begonias.

This trial plant has made me a convert. I am now a great fan of begonias thanks to Dragon Wing Red Begonia. You should know, if a plant survives the summer at my house, it must be hardy and thrive on neglect. Sure I plant them (home of the famous $10 hole for the $5 plant) and irregularly water. I fertilized these plants once during the summer.

Last summer was hell on most plants. Even the tomatoes stopped producing. Much to my delight, the Dragon Wing™ Red Begonia was non stop blooms all summer. Thanks to Dragon Wing™ Red Begonias, there were always a lot of flowers but no deadheading is needed.

The mail box planter is in the full sun all day. They are bright, beautiful, and attracting attention with their red floppy flowers. These Dragon Wings are thriving on the heat and humidity of my zone 6a southeast MO patio and mailbox planter.

Ball Horticulture sent this plant to me for evaluation last spring. Dragon Wings are a no fuss, low maintenance plant. I would use Dragon Wing Begonias again as an informal bedding or border plant. It’s one of the prettiest begonias I’ve seen.

One Last Thing: put your garden to bed.

Chocolate Cherry Sunflower

Chocolate Cherry Sunflower is attracting gold finches and butterflies. photo PBH

If the sun and drought has sucked out the last of your love for gardening, there is still one last chore before you call it quits.

Put your gardens to bed.

Chocolate Cherry Sunflower

Chocolate Cherry Sunflower (Renee’s Garden Seeds) tired and ragged from the long, hot summer. photo PBH

First, clean up and remove all evidence of disease or damage. Do not add this to your compost pile. You can get more tips and services from couvillionslandscaping.com

Add chopped leaves, grass, compost or other healthy organic matter. Work it in to those top 6 inches of soil. I say six inches, I’ve never actually measured it. I mean about as deep as my hand it long.

I use a garden hoe or hand trowel for  cleaning and weeding beds. (Tool choice depends on whether I am sitting, standing, or kneeling.)

Add organic matter.

Make sure that you visit this web-site and educate yourselves. Spread organic matter on your raised beds. Gently mix the organic matter into the top few inches of the garden soil. Leave it loose (no smoothing or flattening.) This is a good time to pick out rocks and roots.

For working around established survivors (AKA, perennials), like roses, tarragon, and lavender, I work in the compost with the Cobrahead, taking care not to damage the roots.

Add more organic matter.

Then, cover the raised bed with mulch (I happen to have lots of chopped leaves and pine straw.) You can add layers of newspaper followed by shredded newspaper, bagged compost, fine wood chips, or shreaded leaves for example.

Yes, I said add stuff and add more stuff.

At this point you can choose to add a green cover crop* or not. Adding more green matter to your garden can only improve your garden soil. On the other hand, if the summer heat has burned, toasted and shriveled you to a crisp, stop here. Good Job. The bed will be ready, resting and waiting for spring.

The point here is to never leave the garden soil bare. Preparing the garden bed now will give you a couple of weeks jump of the 2012 garden season.

Trees

If you have young or newly planted trees, make sure they are well watered, add a two or three inch layer of compost, then a couple of inches os mulch. No need to add commercial fertilizer. The compost is feeding the tree. The mulch is holding in the moisture and limiting sudden temperature changes.

*Cover crops is a whole other post. And I am going out to enjoy this fall day. More later.

 The big success in my garden this year: Dragon Wing® Red Begonia by Proven Winners. More, Later.

dragon wing red begonia

Faithful bloomer all summer this begonia is tired and burned from heat and drought.

Dragon Wing™ Red Begonia

will reach a maximum height of 14 to 16 in.

Dragon Red Wing Begonia will reach a max height of 14 to 16 in. photo Patsy Bell Hobson

The early show in the garden this year is Dragon Wing Red Begonia. I planted them in two places, a hanging basket of three plants and three more in the planter near the mailboxes. At first the 3 begonias in the planter looked lonely. But the plants filled in and are looking better every day. I’m promised these begonias will still be here till first frost this fall. I think they would add drama and color to a mixed annuals container.

Place these bold beauties in pots, baskets and beds. I would use Dragon Wing Begonias again as an informal bedding or border plant. These exotic looking Begonias hve loose loose clusters of Red stop-and-look-at-me blooms. Glossy green, wing-shaped leaves support the beautiful Chinese red flowers. My plants are healthy and thriving in a full sun environment, but they will take part shade. Everybody looks better and does better with a little shade in summer, including begonias.

I’ve never been much of a begonia fan. A free trial plant would not be enough to convert me to a fan. You should know, if a plant survives the summer at my house, it must be hardy and thrive on neglect. Sure I plant them (home of the famous $10 hole for the $5 plant) and irregularly water.

They are :

Drought tolerant

No deadheading requied. Dozens of flowers bloom in Chinese Red all summer. photo Patsy Bell Hobson

  • Shade Tolerant
  • Heat Tolerant
  • Drought Tolerant

Thanks to Dragon Wing™ Red Begonias, I am now a fan of this plant.

Dragon Wing™ Red Begonias have their own webpage.

They are in good healthy soil, but I seldom fertilize my plants. Ball Horticulture says that they do best  in partial sun to partial shade. Me too. But my mail box planter is in the full sun all day. I’ll write more later in the summer and let you know how they are doing.

For now, they are bright, beautiful, and attracting attention with their red floppy flowers. No deadheading needed. These Dragon Wings are thriving  on the heat and humidity of my zone 6 southeast MO  patio and mailbox planter.

 

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