‘Baby Rainbow’—Crinkly, jewel-like leaves with bands of royal purple, emerald green, silver, raspberry, amethyst. Grows and shows off best in glass.
‘Dew Drop’—Thin, ivy-shaped leaves completely overlaid with shimmering, lavender-pink mother-of-pearl.
‘It’—Branching, upright rex type with silver-splotched green leaves, multitudes of large pink flowers. Likes some sunlight.
‘Lorraine Closson,’ ‘Louise Closson,’ ‘Lucille Closson,’ ‘Lucy Closson’—A group of aristocratic dwarfs with taffeta-textured leaves in varying patterns of black, purple, red, pink, silvery green.
‘Pansy’—Small, pointed, deep-green leaves with sharp zone of lighter metallic green.
‘Peacock’—Jet-black and scarlet leaves on short stems. Stays small if fed sparingly.
‘Red Berry’—Sheer, shimmering satin leaves of unrelieved claret.
CARE. Little or no sun, warmth, humidity, humusy soil kept moist. Many rex begonias may go partially or completely dormant in winter, dropping some or all of their leaves. Simply keep them warm, with the soil slightly dry, until signs of new growth appear.
PROPAGATION. Rhizome cuttings, leaf cuttings. Seeds will produce an unpredictable mixture, seldom like the parent plant.
Bertolonia Melastomaceae