ground cover for summer dormant bulbs

Jim McKenney jimmckenney@starpower.net
Thu, 28 Jul 2005 09:18:31 PDT
Bonaventure Magreys wrote: "Yes, the hardy begonias are great, but leave
bare ground from the end of bulb season until mid-July when they start
coming up for me here in central New Jersey."

By mid-July here in zone 7 Maryland, Begonia grandis is already eighteen
inched to two feet high. It begins to emerge while daffodil foliage is still
greenish, so in this climate it compliments some bulbs ideally. It does take
awhile for them to provide total cover and become effective weed
suppressors, but in the meantime nothing seems to perturb them. 

It's interesting to me that it seems to behave so differently only a few
hundred miles north of here. 

Jim McKenney
Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where I recall reading that
the sap of begonia leaves was once used to burn decorative designs into the
skin of goldfish. 


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