B. ‘Merry Christmas’

REX BEGONIA 'MERRY CHRISTMAS' by Elda Haring, Greenwich, Connecticut One of the most handsome of the colorful Rexes is 'Merry Christmas'. The coloring of the leaf defies description. The rim of the outer edge is deep crimson on a border of green splashed with white and rosy dots. The rosy-red center is edged with silver and finished along the center vein with a splash of maroon. B. 'Merry Christmas' is considered difficult to grow and with good reason. The plant in the photo is three years old. It has lost all its leaves and stems twice in mid-winter in my greenhouse which is kept at 60-degree night temperature. Fortunately, it has always started into new growth in the warmth of late spring when daytime temperatures go to 80 degrees on sunny days. I have been growing my Rexes on the top of a double-deck bench covered with a canopy of muslin to protect them from cold night air dropping on them from above, and from too strong noonday sun. The green house is heavily shaded in summer. Most of the Rexes I grow do well with this treatment and do not go completely dormant although some of them lose some stems and leaves. This past summer I brought B. 'Merry Christmas' into the house, repotted it to a mixture of 1/3 milled sphagnum, 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 perlite and place it under warm white fluorescent lights in my cellar where temperatures often go as low as 60 degrees during very cold, winter weather. In this location, under warm white fluorescent lights B. 'Merry Christmas' looked beautiful when we left for winter vacation. My "plant sitter" watered it when the top of the mix felt dry but no fertilizer was given for three months. There was no indication at any time that the plant was unhappy with this treatment or in this environment. At the present writing, it is a gorgeous compact plant with many more leaves than those shown in the photo. It is responding to a monthly feeding of Rapid-Gro and new leaves are appearing regularly. Soon it will be ready to shift to a 6-inch pot and should become a fine specimen plant in just a few months.

• Classification: Cultivar
• Plant Type: Rex Cultorum