Tuberous Begonia - photo essay

I purchased this lovely Salmon color Tuberous Begonia over the weekend and found some interesting facts I wasn't aware of.

Tuberous begonia flowers are good to eat

They taste lemony sour, but good, you can put them in a fruit salad or eat the petals with a fruit yogurt. You can also make a great begonia flower sorbet.  Begonia flowers always face the same direction as the leaves point. Tuberous begonias have both single and double flowers. The double flowers are the boys and the single flowers are the girls. There are usually 2 girls for each boy.

If you live in an area that has cold winters you can take them inside and have them all winter.  They do great in hanging pots.  If you don't want to do that, dig up the plant and place it in a cardboard box to dry out.  Keep the box in a cool, dry place like the garage.  In the Spring take out your dry plant, shake off the dirt and you should have the tuber which you can then plant.

These are so pretty.  Be careful not to over water since they are prone to plant rot if they are kept too wet.  Do not let the plant freeze either.

I have mine in a hanging pot in the garden.