I think you have been doing pretty darn good using your own observtions and instincts! The red one likely is B. boliviensis or a look alike hybrid (there are getting to be a lot of hybrids of this one lately). Its home is in the Andes, so it is not afraid of cool growing conditions.It will naturally go dormant when the days shorten and/or water is withheld. It needs to rest. And as you know will start again from a storage tuber. The white plant is called a tuberhybrida begonia and it too should rest in the fall. If they are still doing well you probably have good light and sensible watering for them. Eventually they will need to rest (and some will not always come back from the tuber, it sort of depends on the storage). I think you are a natural with begonias!

Thanks for your reply and your vote of confidence! So you think they will be okay, but go dormant at a later date. I will taper off the water to help them get the idea. Maybe I should put the boliviensis in the three season room, which is cooler. The boliviensis is in a tippy pot that was hanging, but now is perched on a table, and it got off balance and landed on the floor. It lost a stem, but seems okay. I have to get some hooks installed, or something. I hate moving. If the white one goes dormant and doesn't come back, I have one cutting that I didn't give away that is just beginning to bloom, so maybe I will have tuberhybrida begonias still. What a funny name! Like a turbo-begonia.

I do okay with plants that are okay with getting dry in between watering. I kind of have one style of plant care, and it seems to work for a lot of things. I try to look at the plant and see what I think it needs. The four kinds of begonia that I have seem to be okay with what I do. They seem to be generous plants. I also have a beefsteak begonia and some other kind of angel wing type that I'm not sure what it is, but a woman traded me a cutting of it for a cutting of the beefsteak one. I think it maybe is a fibrous rooted one. I bet there are a few kinds that I'd better not try, though. Anything that likes to be wet and humid and warm I'll kill.

I am happy to have a forum for just about any plant that I want to learn about. I really appreciate the people who answer my posts with their more extensive experience. Thanks again.

Your Beefsteak is called a rhizomatous begonia (the term 'fibrous' has been discounted as nearly all plants could be called 'fibrous').The beefsteak has been in cultivation since 1850 and it is still a popular begonia, probably will still be around in 2050, I bet. I think the term 'tuberhybrida' was first used by the European growers who developed these large flowered, double types of begonias, I think it is Latin (or close enough). No begonias like wet conditions so letting them dry between waterings is working for you.By the way, the tuber should be getting larger as the plant grows, if it is smaller when the plant is dormant, not a good sign.

Oh! Okay, rhizomatous then. I like to learn the correct way to describe things. Thanks. I think the fourth kind that I have is also rhizomatous. It has angel wing shaped dark green leaves with whitish spots. I think I had one like it way back when I was younger. I think it will get some small pink flowers, at least that is what the one I had long ago did.

The tuberhybrida ones really do have big big flowers. That is why I bought the white one that I have. I just thought it was so pretty. It turned out to be very vigorous as well, so I am happy with it and those European growers who developed them, whoever they are.

I admired the leaves on the beefsteak begonia my friend had, and she ripped a leaf off and told me how I could get my own plant by propagating it just like an African violet. It worked! I ended up with a lot of plants, which I have given away to a lot of people.

As I said before, thanks for answering!

I have propogated African violet leaves, but I didn't know you could propagate begonias that way. How did you do that? I always kill angel wing begonias. I got a cute little one for 25 cents, so I thought I would try again. I tend to overwater them. Do they all need a dormant period?

I am by no means an authority, but what I did was exactly what I do for African violets. I cut off a leaf, I can't remember if I cut the petiole down some, then stuck it not too deeply in some potting soil with added coarse stuff to make it drain really well, and then made sure it didn't dry out too much, and didn't get too wet either, and the petiole rooted and it made several new plants after a time. It did take a longer time than I think the African violets do.

I think that all the parts of the leaves of begonias will make new plants, but I don't know the ways to do it. I bet you can search the web for information.

Add perlite to your potting soil, and maybe that can help you keep from getting the soil too wet and boggy.

You cannot propagate all begonias by leaf cuttings. Cane (angel wing) begonias are one that must be done by stem cuttings. All rhizomatous can be started by leaf.

Tuberous and boliviensis are best by stem cuttings but tuberous can be started by leaf but for best results you need a piece of the stem attached to the leaf (there is a great article on this method on the Scottish begonia site).

Tuberous begonia propagation

Oh, thanks for posting, hcmcdole! I really shouldn't say much because I don't know much about begonias, even though I've grown some without really knowing what I had. I don't really know which kinds are which. Mostly I've done stem cuttings, so this beefsteak leaf propagation was a surprise. I do remember seeing in a book how some begonias, rex I think, could be propagated by leaves, or sections of leaves. Thanks for straightening things out.

I have had a single begonia for 4 years now. Before there is a frost, I just bring the little guy inside. He actively grows in the bathroom until warmer temperatures. He gets very leggy throughout the winter months, so come spring he gets a severe cutting back. It blooms all through the winter. Everything seems to be fine. I suppose I should really let it go dormant, but has anyone had experience just leaving them grow without a dormant period... for even years at a time?

Sorry, but I don't know about this. I think you might get a better response from a more knowledgeable person if you made this a separate post. It really is a different topic, and maybe it will get noticed with its own title.