Horticulture
Two Peas in a Pod
Class 21
Two identical plants in two identical pots with saucers. Pots not to exceed 8”. Pre-registration required. Three-month ownership.
Six Entries
Donna Rose
Worcester Garden Club
Special Awards Judges’ Comments:
“Balanced and symmetrical pair expertly propagated.”
Judges’ Comments:
“Robust, nearly identical plants with richly colored leaves create a compelling entry.”
Plant Material: Begonia rex, cv, begonia
Length of ownership: 11 months
Propagated by cutting: This is a third-generation plant for me. I purchased the original several years ago, and approximately 2 1/2 years ago I created several new ones from cuttings, which I gave to family and friends. These plants were created from cuttings taken from one of those plants.
To start, I removed six large leaves, cutting the stems close to the mother plant. The ends were dipped in water and then rooting powder and each inserted into wet vermiculite in its own 4" peat pot. Pots were placed in a large plastic tray, placed in a bright room with indirect lighting and kept moist by bottom watering for approximately 5–6 weeks to encourage deep root growth. When several new stemmed leaves appeared in each pot, and sufficient root growth had occurred, the peat pots were trimmed back, and each planted in 6" pots filled with standard potting medium. The pots were returned to the tray in the same room to grow further. After another 6 weeks the original large leaf was cut off so that the remaining plant was more uniform. At this point each plant was well-established and given its own saucer .
Growing conditions: Bright indirect light in a southeast-facing room.
Karen Marache
Greenwich Garden Club
“Lustrous leaves.”
“Disparate sizes of the two plants distract.”
Plant Material: Begonia ‘Erythrophylla’, Gobe begonia
Length of ownership: Twelve months
Propagated by Exhibitor:
Cuttings from an eight-year-old favorite begonia.
March 2020 leaves in water, eight weeks great rooting.
May 2020 potted in potting soil, put outside summer indirect sunny southwest covered porch, repotting with organic soil, worm castings.
Oct 2020 inside sitting in southwest windowsill on a mirror.
Dec 2020 repotted to show pots, worm casting soil cover.
Feb 2021 getting ready for show.
Growing conditions: Inside in the cooler, cold weather. Outside when temps warmed. Southwest window, turning often.
Penelope Collins
Garden Club of Englewood
“Displays an eye-catching range of coloration.”
“The pair lacks identicalness. Judges find timeline unclear.”
Plant Material: Begonia bowerae 'Tiger', tiger begonia
Length of ownership: Thirteen years
Propagated by cutting:
Fall 2008: Propagated by stem cuttings at a GCE begonia propagation workshop at my house while I was GCE Hort Chair, in potting medium, grown on a windowsill (indoors).
Winter 2008/2009: Transplanted into individual pots, in potting medium, grown on a windowsill (indoors), fertilized approx. every two weeks, watered twice a week.
December 2020: Transplanted into the current pots, grown indoors under lights, fertilized with arbor kelp every two weeks, watered twice a week.
Growing conditions: Windowsill and grow lights.
Barbara Geddes Wooten
Fairfield Garden Club
“Similar plants with luminous leaf color.”
“Leaf-trimming and brown edges are visible.”
Plant Material: Begonia rex 'Fedor’, rex begonia
Length of ownership: Three months
Propagated by exhibitor: No
Growing conditions: CT winter. Started 4” pots. Heating mat 2 wks. 62°. Moved into 8” pots w/ grow lights 12 hrs. daily at south. Added sponges for humidity. Very lightly fertilized. Groomed older leaves. Turned pots daily. Started as distinct plants grown into fraternal twins.
Brenda Barrett
Garden Club of Lexington
“Plants are well-matched.”
“Vigorous growth would result from more sun and a routine fertilization program. Fallen leaves should be removed.”
Plant Material: Crassula ovata, jade plant
Length of ownership: Three years
Propagated by cutting: Plants were propagated from leaf cuttings in 2018. In each pot 3 leaves were placed with the rooting side next to each other in the center of the pot to create a multi-trunked plant. Plants are grown in a mixture of 1/2 potting soil and 1/2 potting soil for succulents.
Growing conditions: On a table about 4' from a southwest-facing window. Watered once a week.
Gina Guerra
Pasadena Garden Club
Special Awards Panel Judges’ Comments:
“Two Peas in a Pod—commendable effort!”
Judges’ Comments:
“Evokes a tapestry of radiant colors.”
“Plants would benefit from judicious pinching to promote fuller growth.”
Plant Material: Pelargonium x hortorum 'Velma Cox'
Length of ownership: One year, three months
Propagated by cutting: These plants were grown from small cuttings that I took from the mother plant that I trimmed to enter in the 2020 Pasadena Garden Club Flower Show (which never happened due to the pandemic). The cuttings were planted in pots filled with perlite and placed in my shade greenhouse, where I watered them on almost a daily basis, depending on the weather. After several months in the perlite, they developed a substantial root system. I then transplanted them into pots filled with Sunshine Professional Growing Mix and placed them in my sun greenhouse. Since then, they have been growing in this greenhouse with the exception of last summer, when it was too hot as the greenhouse is not temperature-controlled and I live in Los Angeles. Over the summer they resided in my vegetable and cutting garden and were watered twice a week or as needed given the temperature. I set them behind several large tomato plants so that they would be protected from the direct sunlight in the afternoon heat. During the week that we had 117 degree heat, I moved them briefly into the shade greenhouse. In the fall of 2020, I moved them back into the sun greenhouse, and have been watering them twice a week and fertilizing them approximately once a month with either liquid seaweed or organic fertilizer. Hopefully you can see that the plants both have flower buds that are about to blossom. We have had a very warm and sunny winter this year, which has given the foliage extraordinarily brightly-colored leaves for this time of year.
