Here are my angelwing begonias: Miss Mummy- My smaller angel wing- My bigger angel wing begonia from cuttings- It's new leaves growing in- And here's the difference in their leaves sizes- And I looked at the spots to see if they had any hairs, and Miss Mummy does have those, but not the other two...so weird...I also have two begonia rexs, but those are a pain to take care of...but I think they're pretty too..but I just love the way the angel wing types grow. I've seen the wax begonias every where too, but I beleive those are grown more for the flowers. But I prefer to have begonias for their foliage, flowers are just a bonus. Your so lucky to get them for free...I got my big leaf begonia cuttings from a neighbor who is also into houseplants as much as I am, and the mother plant is very huge and beautiful. My cutings where ALOT bigger til someone (my wonderful kids most likely) knocked over the vase of water it was in and they all broke. So I ended up with much smaller cuttings...but I am surprised at how fast it's grown. They seem to be very forgiving plants. -FPT

Would love a cutting! My grandmother had one as long as I could remember, and my aunt took it when she died. I had one that died and I haven't had a chance to replace it yet.

If your indoor temps are 70-ish, then you don't need bottom heat (sometimes bottom heat speeds up rot IMO). You shouldn't need hormone powder either but it won't hurt to use it. I don't like vermiculite because it seems to "pack down" after a while but some folks like it for rooting/seed starting. You should use perlite if you want to go with a sterile rooting medium. What kind of potting mix are you using if you get a lot of rot? Is it a heavy mix? Water rooting works pretty good but you have to keep the water somewhat fresh. One thing I noticed on my most recent cuttings is the very succulent parviflora showed some rot at the bottom node after sitting in water for a day or two. I should have known better by letting these fleshy stems heal over before putting in water or potting mix. All the other canes I cut showed no problem whatsoever after sitting in water for the same period. I finally got around to putting them all in soil so it is just a waiting game now. Make sure you have a couple of nodes that have a growing tip (read Brad's Begonia World tips on propagation). Cut off most of the leaves (in fact I sometimes cut all the leaves off if they are damaged).

Of course you can (as in no magic faerie will appear to prevent you)...just don't be disappointed if it dies in the next 24 hours (or at least loses all aboveground growth). You can never put a plant from what is a shaded situation directly into full sun without severe risk of sunscald. And most begonias prefer cool, moist and mostly shady.