October 2008 Meeting plans

Greetings, Begoniacs! We have had a frost now and all my begonias are jostling for space inside... I have gone to the big box store and bought a few more fluorescent light fixtures to keep all the plants happy. There are challenges to growing indoors that are 'separate but equal' to the outdoor growing challenges. Mildew is a big problem for me during the winter but I have my Lysol spray close by! Our meeting on Saturday, October 18th will help all of us with our gardening issues because we will learn how to use the biggest resource in the world... the internet! Whether you are a newbie to computers or an absolute whiz, let Linda Kammerer show you how to tap into all the internet can offer.
We will meet at the Botanical Center at Roger Williams Park. Plan ahead for our November 15th and December 20th meetings. All meetings start at 12:30.

September 2008 Meeting plans

Instead of a meeting - we plan to participate and attend the:
Gesneriad & Begonia Show & Sale
10am - 4pmSeptember 20 & 21
Sponsored by The Buxton Branch of the American Begonia Society and the New England Chapter of The Gesneriad Society.
• Discover the diversity of these two plant families and learn why they are one of the most popular houseplants
• Demos & Educational Displays on Begonia & Gesneriad culture.
• Society members and Lauray of Salisbury will offer plants and supplies for sale
• Guided Tour of Show Sunday @1pm
• More details on exhibiting or about the show, contact ruthacam@verizon.net

August 16th meeting

We have a great meeting planned for next week, 8/16. We will be learing how to do leaf castings. with the variety of leaf shapes in the begonia world, this could be a lot of fun!!!We will also review the planned meetings for the next few months. As always, feel free to comment with any questions. See you on the 16th!

We've added a July meeting!

After hearing from the RI Begonia Society membership that getting together every other month leaves too big a gap (especially if it's necessary to miss a meeting) it has been decided to go with monthly meetings! That means we will meet Saturday, July 19th at 12:30 at the education center at Roger Williams Park greenhouses. We will need to come up with some great programs, garden tours, etc, so come with your ideas and also bring a begonia for show and tell. We will have a great silent auction table (donations of all sorts of plants accepted). Nice munchies and interesting plant geeks... what more could you ask for during the lazy days of summer? As always, feel free to call me with any questions or comments. See you on the 19th!

Meetings

We are thinking of having meetings every month instead of every other month.... What do you think?

June 21 2008 meeting

It's summer and the growing is easy... there are wonderful begonias at the garden centers. Some varieties are new this year and I have found quite a few sun loving begonias! The RI Branch Begonia Society will be meeting this Saturday, June 21, at 12:30 at the education center at the botanical gardens in Roger Williams Park, Providence. We will be hearing from Bonnie Lambert, co-president of the Buxton Branch of the ABS about the September show at Tower Hill B.G. She will be showing us some fine examples of different categories of begonias, so if you have a mystery begonia bring it along and she can help you identify it. We will have a display table, so bring your prettiest plants for everyone to ooh and ahhh over. Silent auction items are also welcome and can be (gasp!) non-begonias! Come talk plants, find some new plants to add to your collections, and Priscilla will be bringing the simplest answer ever to mildew. See you Saturday!

April meeting

We had a great meeting yesterday. Thanks to Wanda for coming down and showing us how to plant a terrarium. Wanda also supplied 3 plants to each participant for the program. The terrariums used were 8" glass bowls.

I know Priscilla took some pictures - hopefully we will be able to show them on the webpage.

We got 2 new members!!!

Greetings, Begoniacs! We have an exciting meeting coming up on Saturday, April 19th! Wanda Macnair will be visiting us from the Buxton Branch in Wellesley to share with us her techniques for terrariums. She has been growing some exquisite jewel box begonias and unusual companion plants so we can create our own little 'rainforests'. This is a way to help some of those challenging begonias to thrive! We will be using 8" glass bubble bowls but be warned... this is addicting and you will want to create more of these mini worlds. Wanda has promised to bring extra plants for sale, including the little charmer Ficus pumila 'quercifolia'. The fee for this workshop is only $10.00 which includes the bubble bowl, charcoal, growing media and three plants. We will get started at 12:30 at the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center Classroom. To make sure we have enough supplies, YOU MUST RSVP BY APRIL 16TH!

RIBranchBegonia@gmail.com

Newport Flower Show

Newport Flower Show
"Explore! Botanical Passions"

June 27, 28 and 29, 2008


There are several classes available to begonia lovers.

There are several classes that begonias can be entered into as well as a few that are of particular interest.

Class 6 is for Wardian Cases

Also classes just for Begonias

From their web page:

*Begonias

Any species or cultivar of Begonia grown primarily for foliage
24. 12” container & under
25. Container over 12”

Any species or cultivar of Begonia grown primarily for flowers
26. 12” container & under
27. Container over 12”

If you are interested here is the info on how to enter.

Here is the link to the Horticultural division:

The Rhode Island Branch - Begonia Society

We are a new group who love begonias. We hope to have our charter soon an will be an official branch of the American Begonia Society.

We meet every other month from February to December on the 3rd Saturday at the classroom of the RI Botanical Center at Roger Williams Park in Providence, RI.

For more information, please contact. RIBranchBegonia@gmail.com