On 26/9/08 21:47, in article
, "Judith
in France" wrote:

On Sep 26, 9:04 pm, Sacha wrote:
On 24/9/08 15:11, in article
, "Judith in

France" wrote:
I have a couple of questions, can anyone help please:

Maurgerittes, I have some in huge pots, I don't want to lose them, the
temps here are savage in Winter with snow and ice, we are at altitude
in the Massif Central, France.

Pendula begonia in hanging pots, any advice, do I take them out of the
pots or just bring in the pots?

Just bring all of them in, in their pots.

I have massive Surfina in hanging pots, can I overwinter these in any
way, by cutting back to just above root level? I have tried to see if
I can collect seed, for some reason the flower dies off but seeds do
not form as they do with Petunia, odd that.

snip

Try taking cuttings of all your favourites Judith and keep their parents in
a frost free environment, letting them die back naturally and keeping them
very much on the dry side so that their roots aren't sitting around in cold
wet, compost.

--
Sachahttp://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)

Bless, you are back. Take cuttings now? How? Merci.

Judith

Your personal gardener, Raymond, says, it's really not too difficult with
any of these, bar the Surfinias but really, and ideally, you should take
these Begonia and Marguerite cuttings in August because of light levels
helping root growth. Take 2" cuttings from non-flowering shoots of the
Begonias and Marguerites now (remove a bud, if necessary) cutting them off
just below a node, take off most of the leaves, leaving a couple at the top
and put them 5 round the edge of 1 litre pots filled with a compost for
seeds and cuttings. But he does emphasise, Do this now, because it's
already quite late and in your climate might or might not work. Because
you'll be doing this quite late he suggests you leave them in this 1 litre
pot for quite some time and then pot them on in spring.
For Surfinias he says 'buy seed' and start from scratch.
What we would like very much to hear from you is how your cuttings develop
because although temps are brutally low, light levels might be higher? This
is pure supposition/guesswork/curiosity on my part but I'd like to hear how
your cuttings do.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)