Name: Begonia X Hiemalis aka Rieger begonias aka the Solenia Series Begonia

Type of Plant: Begonias that are a cross between the wax begonias and the tuberous begonia, producing a plant with a larger flower that can be grown in sun or shade.

Why I Love/Hate this plant: First of all, I love annuals that flower from the end of May until hard frost with no deadheading required. The Solenia begonias fall into this group. Secondly, I love an annual that grows in sun or shade. This is especially useful if you have window boxes or containers that get varying levels of sunlight and yet you want the plants that fill them to match. And I love annuals that come in a range of colors so that I can play with different combinations every year. The Rieger begonias check all of those boxes.

These begonias have a solid presence, in both foliage and flower, so they combine well with plants that are finer, such as Juncus reeds, asparagus ferns, thinner salvias, or Diamond Frost Euphorbia.

A Word to the Wise: Like most begonias, you don’t want to keep these too wet because if you do they are prone to crown rot. Just try to water the containers in the morning, so that the soil isn’t wet around the plants all night, and let the surface of the soil dry out between soakings.

I have two of these boxes on my front porch, and one gets more sun than the other. The Solenia begonias are perfect because they and the sweet potato vine will do well in both locations, even if the finer salvia that I’ve used behind doesn’t end up thriving in the shade. I chose a coral/pink variety that has shades of red as well, and used some fine Juncus and Salvia microphylla in the back for a grassy meadow look. The sweet potato vine in the front will cascade over the edge and the Duranta Gold Edge in the center will grow taller, both making a good contrasting foliage with the dark begonia leaves.

These bright pink Solenia begonias have a lighter green leaf.

I can just see these orange Solenia begonias planted with some purple Persian shield and yellow Hakonechloa macra grass.

Looking for a good alternative to red geraniums that you don’t have to deadhead? Yup. Solenia begonias.

The peach flowers in the urn are Solenia begonias that were combined with other annuals and grown in full sun. They flowered well all summer long.