28 ~ North Shore News - Sunday, March 26, 2000 FIOME AND GARDEN is hard te Tae beauty of bege FEW flowers can match the beauty, colour and size of the tuberous begonias. In our beavily treed ens ronment shade is always a fac- tor, and few plants, other than impatizns and fuchsia, can compete with tuberous bego- nias for sheer visual impact. With a wide choice of tubers to choose from, begonias can be used effectively in garden beds, containers and hanging baskets. oday’s tuberous begonias bear little resemblance to the 200 or 300 species that were originally identified by English and French plant collectors in the 18th anc ith cerruries. Most of the hegonia species I come to you in nty Showroom on wheels’ © Window coverings ® Colour consultations . Complete decorating service are native to the tropical areas of Bolivia and Peru. However, they have been hybridized for the last 130 years to the point where none of the original plants are now grown in the commercial trade. Early French plant explor- ers named the begonia after Mickel Begon, a sitron of the botanic world and tormer govel wor of Vicneh Canad Being named atter a governor of Canada, it seems appropri- ate to grow begonias in our gardens. Local nurseries always have a good selection of tuberous begonias for sale but if you want to start your own tubers, now is the time to pot them up. You can either take last year’s tubers out of storage or purchase new ones at the gar- den shop. Tuberous begonias can also be grown from seed but this is nota task for the amateur. Tubcraus begonias come in three forms: standard upright (25 to 30 cm), multi- flora upright (20 to 25 cm with more flowers) and pen- dant or trailing type. AH three varieties have both single and double flower types. The uprights have dark green leaves whereas the trailing types are more inclined to have narrower spotted leaves with a sharper point. vet-like flowers’ © from deep red through pink, orange, apricot, salmon, yellow, champagne, white and many bi-colour ypical begonia stem will have one very large male flower in the centre and two small female flowers off to the side. Ticking off the female flowers as they start to form seed pods. will encourage the plant to produce more blooms. If you are growing a small number of tubers, they can be potted up direculy i in small pots. For large numbers and big tubers | find it easier to line a tray with plastic and fill it half full of damp rooting medium harp sand, % peat and ¥ perlite) and press or tise the tubers down into the mix und! the shoulder of the tuber is level with the medium surface. The new shoots will have light as soon as they start to grow. Be sure to place the rounded side down and the old stem side up. Spray the tubers with water and then cover the tray with plastic wrap. Place the way under grow lights or in front of a window. A single sheet of newspaper over the tray will prevent direct sun light from overheating the tubers under the plastic. Begonia tubers that have been in storage all winter should be checked very care- fully for decaying tissue or damage done by weevil larvae. The larvae are white, 5-10 mm in length and may be found at the end of a tunnel they have chewed into a tuber. All that may be left of a badly infected tuber is a lighi, dry shell-like skin, The use of Let the sunshine in... or not. You have a choice with window cover- ing designs to suit every window. Serr BLINDS 252, FABRIC “DRAPES, SHADES, BLINDS & YALANCES FREE I-HOME CONSULTATION WHOLESALE PRICES fLease for $299 48/mos O.A.C. or 2.9% no lim V6, 4 speaker am/tm cass stereo, ABS, drive select 4X4, 5 24 hour, roadside assistance rugged ladder box frame, power steering, power door locks, power windows, power mirrors. City: 12.3L/100km (23mpg), highway : 9.7L/100kmi North Van Suzuki 983-2088 : tate yom oh SEE las BEGONIAS can be used effectively in garden NEWS photo Cindy Goodman ds, containers and hanging bas- kets — and few flowers can compete with them for sheer visual impact. sharp sand in the rooting medium seems to act as a deterrent in preventing the weevil grubs from chewing into the tuber during the growing season. When the new begonia shoots are 2 to 4 cm long and the small leaves have begun to form, the tubers can be teased out of the rooting medium and potted up in a pot that will allow 5 to 10 mm of clearance between the pot and the tuber. They prefer to be in a confined space. Keep the new plants in the house or greenhouse until early May and then plant them in the garden, container or hanging basket. Normally it takes about 12 weeks for the tubers to come into bioom so six weeks in the house will give the plants a good head start. The tailing plants benefit from having the growth tips pinched out just as they begin WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29: Learn about waterwise gardening, efficient plantings, natural weed control, lawn cutting, mulching and more in “Resource efficient land- scapes: low maintenance gar- dening that lets nature do the work” — the. North Shore Recycling Program’s _ first workshop in “Turning a New Leaf ... A Spring Discussion and Workshop Series.” The to bend over the side of the pot. This will create multiple shoots and more blooms. They can also be cut back late in the season if the stems become too long and have few flowers. Add a slow release fertilizer to the soil for the final planti- ng and keep the plants con- stantly moist but not water- logged. Upright plants need staking as they come into bloom. workshop is at 7 p.m., admis- sion is free but space is limit- ed, Cail now to register or for more information 984-9730. GREEN GUIDE is a week- ly Sunday column. Send in information to. Deana Lancaster c/o the North Shore News, 1139. Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, B.C., send e- mail to . : Annual compound rate of 5.74% for C-bond if held for 2 years. 4. 60% Year 1