I’ve been personally perennializing my begonias for many years indoors. I can say from experience that it is super easy. Taking them in their pots in the fall, begonias make excellent houseplants. But before we get into the details, we should mention that there are two distinctly different types of begonias.
Actually, there are 1600. But that’s species; we’re talking about the two main types of fibrous-rooted begonias here. The “Dragonwing” begonias and wax begonias are the popular line of hybrids with big leaves and very colorful flowers—are an example of the ‘bedding plant’ type, sold as seeds or small plants and meant to be displayed in shady gardens from spring until fall, when the first frost kills them—same as other annuals like marigolds and impatiens.
The other type is the tuberous begonias. These fall into the category of ‘ summer blooming bulbs’. Like dahlias, tuberous begonias are sold as big bulbs or rhizomes (the ‘tubers’) and are typically planted in containers, so that you can easily take the root out before the first hard frost and store it indoors for the winter as they will go dormant and regrow sometime in the spring. It may be easier to buy new ones (either tubers or the actual flowering plant).
As for the fibrous-rooted begonias, I just bring the whole pot inside. If you can provide bright enough light either east or south window, they’ll bloom indoors all winter.
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