That Won’t Grow Here

Begonia U-521 is a species we got from a customer in Alabama, which has sailed through our winters at JLBG since 2017. Flowering begins for us in early fall, with clusters of large pure white flowers, which hide just below the leaves. For those unfamiliar with Begonia U-numbers, these are assigned by he American Begonia Society for plants new to cultivation that represent potential new species.

This amazing begonia was purchased by begoniaphiles Charles Jaros and Maxine Zinman from the Bangkok Market in Thailand. For those who haven’t visited this amazing marketplace, it’s a massive venue where local vendors (nurserymen and collectors) sell their wares.

It turns out that this species came from the wild via a collector who lives on the border of Thailand and Cambodia, where no plants should be winter hardy here in Zone 7b. We’re not aware of anyone currently working on naming new begonias from that region, so to offer it, we’ll need to assign a cultivar name, which will remain connected to the plant, once it becomes a published species.

Begonia sp. nov. U-521 foliage in the fall garden.
Begonia sp. nov. U-521
Begonia sp. nov. U-521 white flowers hidden just below the foliage.
Begonia sp. nov. U-521

3 thoughts on “That Won’t Grow Here”

  1. What’s the coldest temperature you’ve had so far? We got in to the low 20s a previous week, so my marginal begonias (e.g. palmata) got frozen and are dormant.

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