9am - 4pm
13th - 14th March 2010
50 specialist growers
Expert plant talks & demonstrations
Purchase new, rare and unusual plants
Australian Bred Tuberous Begonias
The 2010 Gardening and Rare plants Expo will again feature a beautiful display of Australian bred large flowering tuberous begonias. Not the ones you often see in nurseries or gardens, these beauties have huge flowers in a full range of colours.
Tuberous begonias are simply sublime. Few flowers combine rich, vibrant colours, a wide variety of flower forms and shapes, and incredible dinner plate size.
The Expo will present a complete range of our very own Australian bred varieties, all unique to Australia. Here is a chance to see these wonderful plants in all their glory right here in Silvan, Melbourne. You can also buy potted plants in full magnificent flower at the Expo, which are very rarely available.
The tuberous begonia display at the Gardening and Rare plants Expo is proudly presented by the Australian Begonia Company. As Australia’s largest commercial propagator of these plants, they draw on twenty years of growing experience.
The superb quality and the wide range of plants on display are the fruits of fifty years of dedicated breeding by Australia’s master begonia breeder, Ralph Willsmore. Though retired from his nursery work, Ralph is still breeding really beautiful new varieties.
The Gardening and Rare plants Expo's Begonia display will showcase a complete range of all the types of tuberous begonias. These include the gorgeous minis, sometimes known as non-stops, with their attractive 8-10cm flowers.
More uncommon are the pendulous or basket tuberous begonias. These are bred to produce massive baskets with hundreds of flowers like little roses, each on a graceful pendulous stem.
But the true wow factor is definitely the large flowered tuberous begonias. These beauties produce massive flowers, each one perfect, and each in a ravishing hue. Anywhere from purest white, through delicate pastels, to rich vibrant reds and yellows – and very shade in between!
The special colouring that makes these flowers really stand out is the picotee. Having a soft base colour, picotee flowers have the edges of their petals traced with red, rose pink or orange. When a picotee is also a ruffled flower (like a giant carnation), the effect is breathtaking indeed.
At the Gardening and Rare plants Expo you can buy begonia plants and meet the grower, who will give demonstrations and show you how you can grow and propagate tuberous begonias in your own garden.