Amongst houseplants, there is a clear and demonstrable form of favoritism shown, favoritism towards foliage over flowers. For the job of the nursery; it’s easier to produce hundreds of cookie cutter, small, ready-to-go plants from cuttings; however, the rare exception must be made for a plant deserving of it. And, with little research, it can be seen why Begonia x ‘Cracklin’ Rosie’ is that plant. A constellation of white dots (inherited from its Begonia
maculata parent) are strewn across jagged, ruffling leaves which seem to radiate infinitely outwards from a blood-red stem. However, Rosie’s leaves only serve as the warm-up to the true spectacle that is her flowers. Bunches of 8-10 giant, pink-crimson blossoms burst forth from the apex of a well-foliated stem, cascading a bright star of radiant light from an otherwise black-hole of a plant. Cracklin’ Rosie is a large, cane-type hybrid that produces long, arched stems (which give the ‘cane type’ its name)that tend to reach their stop at about 20 inches tall. This plant likes a very wet soil, usually something based in sphagnum and coco-coir. When repotting, with cane-type Begonias, it’s vital to go for bigger than smaller, as these rambunctious showstoppers grow quite quickly!
