#begonia
Iridescent Leaves Take Advantage Of Quantum Mechanics To Thrive In The Shade
I came across more photos of those iridescent Begonias and was reminded to look up why they evolved to be that way! It looks like it’s the result of low light adaptations.
Iridescent flowers are common in nature. Their sparkly petals attract bees’ attention, tempting them to come over and pollinate the flower. But why would leaves be iridescent? This is the question Heather Whitney, a plant scientist at University of Bristol, asked while studying iridescent flowers.
“This seemed very odd to me,” Whitney told Popular Science. “By and large you do not want to attract insects (herbivores) to leaves.” Furthermore, she noticed that these iridescent leaves were always found in shade plants. This seemed counterintuitive since one would expect plants growing in the shade to scavenge every available bit of light. Iridescence reflects some light away, though.
Plants in the Begonia genus, whose iridescent leaves make them favorites among houseplant lovers, thrive in low light. A paper published today in Nature Plants suggests that the dazzling iridescence displayed by some Begonia species may actually be their way of enhancing photosynthesis in deep shade.
Rainy Day
Forgot to move the cuttings, again, but yay! The bogs sage & begonia are blooming!
My begonia Sinbad is coming back!
I’ve grown this begonia since 2020. She grew so tall and bushy, I was super proud! But last year she was affected by powdery mildew, which is a horrible fungus disease that spreads really fast.
I treated her with strong neem oil and cut her down several times, but the mildew kept coming back. So after several times, I decided to cut all of the branches down, like super hardcore.
After a few months of just watering enough and being in observation in my ER room, she is coming back. Fingers crossed that the mildew won’t come back
Multicolored
His name is Hugh, and he’s a little fussy.
Not Your Average Pot
I know they’re not wacky or crazy or genital-shaped, but I’m pretty fond of the color scheme I’ve managed to pull together in my bathroom. Now maybe a bunch of blue plants so the can match too…
Begonia soli-mutata is my baby, seriously look at those colors, the texture and everything else about this plant. Super common okay but damn. It can be used as a bedding plant for a truly gorgeous composition. Grows all year round if you don’t get snow over it but it’s quite an adaptative grower. Seems to do well in subtropical climate so must have above average hardness.
Sparkling shine begonia flowers
Begonia ‘Fireworks’
Easy, cheap houseplant grow lights
Easy solution for houseplant grow lights. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on grow lights for your indoor plants, especially if you just need a solution during winter. Here’s my solution and a bit of info about the most simple plant grow light setup.
Here’s the lamp that I bought (Amazon.fr): https://amzn.to/2FKOowi
I found…