Exploring a stunning festival focused on begonias | Garden Inspiration | Gardening Australia

Costa visits the big and beautiful begonias as part of the Ballarat Begonia Festival and meets the committed crew looking after them. Subscribe 🔔 ab.co/GA-subscribe
Curator Peter Marquand has worked at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens for over 30 years, overseeing one of the biggest begonia collections is in the world.
“We grow over 2,500 thousand of them so it’s a staggering number of plants,” he said.
With so much colour and variation amongst the plants they’re hard to describe. This collection houses two types of begonias, the tuberous and the-non-tuberous begonia with “insignificant” flowers but with interesting leaves. The tuberous begonia also includes the pendulous form best suited to hanging pots as they naturally hang.
“I don’t know of other plants that have that much variety, and they’re pretty stunning,” Peter said.
There is a trick to creating such large flowers. The staff remove the female buds, so the plants don’t produce seed, instead putting all their energy into the remaining male flowers
“The male flowers are naturally bigger anyway, and their purpose is to be really showy,” Peter said.
While the plant originated from South America, Ballarat, one of Australia’s oldest and at one time richest cities, thanks to the gold rush, has been in love with begonias for more than a century.
The gardens started in 1857 at a time when many of the nurseries were experimenting with begonias.
“It was a natural progression for them to come into the garden’s collection,” Peter said.
Some tips on growing begonias:
For those starting off, Peter recommends the variety ‘Nonstop’, a tubular begonia that grows shorter around 200mm that is easy to grow and find. If you want them to thrive, make sure you grow them in a cool temperature, they don’t like the afternoon sun preferring a good morning sun sheltered from the wind.
The two dedicated main growers at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens are Sheree Blood and Erin Brennan who have been growing begonias for over 20 years. When they’re not busy looking after the vast collection they also create their own varieties of begonia. Erin and Sheree crossed two varieties to create the aptly named ‘Lady B’ after their nickname ‘Lady’ and their two surnames starting with ‘B’.
Erin’s tips on growing tuberous begonias:
- Choose the right pot - make sure it’s not too big.
- Use water sparingly or they’ll rot.
- Use a free draining potting mix placing the tuber right on top, just under the soil.
- Finish off by watering it in.
- It should start to shoot in about 3 to 4 weeks
Sheree provides some tips on growing from cuttings, with the best time in spring when they’re first shooting:
- When the shoots are about 10cm tall take a scalpel and slice at the top of the tuber
- Remove any piece of the root by gently slicing it off
- Place into a pot filled with potting mix with added perlite with a tiny bit of slow-release fertiliser.
- They should start to shoot in about 4 weeks and ready to be re potted at about 8 weeks.
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[@bethlovesthings]

wow I had no idea there was such a massive Begonia collection in Australia. I'll have to add this to my bucket list

[@ErgonBill]

I remember a time when many largish towns had their flower festivals. I was a major annual event that drew the community together and a source of pride, not to mention the amazing displays. Well done Ballarat!

[@sheryllparagas3909]

Breathtaking..amazing...love it..

[@sharonwebb945]

I have a new obsession. What amazing stunning flowers. Had no idea how big the flowers can be!

[@NewMindGarden]

Wow.. Amazing.. 🌷🌷👌👌

[@NickRoeder]

Thanks for throwing in tips for home gardeners too. Trying my first ever begonia this year. Double white. I'm excited. The leaves already look spectacular 6 weeks in. Wish I could go to Australia to witness this beautiful collection.

[@deeonugarapulcountryyugger6629]

I grew up there and just now appreciate it all

[@KLMN890]

Amazing collection, have been to this show. Superb collection

[@Agapy8888]

Amazing.

[@chrisandaniel4594]

Oh my goodness I need to come here Iove begonias

[@BxTekNurd]

BATHURST , NSW Has a Begonia house in the Park. It's opened FREE during summer (whenever they're in flower)

[@Joy1957K]

Stunning! Ok now how do you tell the girl flowers from the boy flowers??? LOL

[@subinjeong1386]

😍😍😍

[@ksenijavojisavljevic2034]

Is it like now, can we go to see it next weekend?