Lakeshore Garden Centres Plant Finder

Group/Class:  Double Up Series

Brand:  Proven WInners

Description:

A wonderful low maintenance, vigorous series featuring deep green foliage with elegant red double blooms; dense globe shaped plants are heat tolerant and long blooming, ideal for containers, borders and landscapes

Ornamental Features

Double Up™ Red Begonia is bathed in stunning nodding red flowers at the ends of the stems from late spring to early fall. Its attractive small serrated pointy leaves remain dark green in colour with hints of coppery-bronze throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Double Up™ Red Begonia is an herbaceous annual with a mounded form. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This is a high maintenance plant that will require regular care and upkeep, and usually looks its best without pruning, although it will tolerate pruning. Deer don't particularly care for this plant and will usually leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

• Insects
• Disease

Double Up™ Red Begonia is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting
• Hanging Baskets

Planting & Growing

Double Up™ Red Begonia will grow to be about 12 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 14 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 10 inches apart. Its foliage tends to remain dense right to the ground, not requiring facer plants in front. This annual will normally live for one full growing season, needing replacement the following year.

This plant performs well in both full sun and full shade. However, you may want to keep it away from hot, dry locations that receive direct afternoon sun or which get reflected sunlight, such as against the south side of a white wall. It requires an evenly moist well-drained soil for optimal growth, but will die in standing water. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid. It can be propagated by cuttings; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.

Double Up™ Red Begonia is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor containers and hanging baskets. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing a mass of flowers and foliage against which the thriller plants stand out. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.