Interesting looking plants. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Tim. I hear some may be ready for the convention this year. I hope there is plenty for sale and not just a handful.

The top one looks like the gold form of B. palmata (which I grow from seed collected by Rekha Morris).

I am lucky enough to be in the Potomac Branch of the ABS with Johanna. She is amazing and a true encyclopedia of begonias who is so generous with her knowledge. I hope you enjoyed her!

That is great that you have Johanna in your branch. She has become a force for the ABS as well. We walked some of the gardens at Longwood a couple of weeks ago to see the Dahlias there.

Fantastic! So glad you both obviously had a good time.

As good as possible in a short amount of time. My first visit there while Johanna has been there many times.

'Two Face'

Huge 'Art Hodes' but the 'Caravan' wasn't looking too good.

'Lana' (maybe Sophie or something else) wasn't too shabby either.

I didn't see a lot of begonias there but then we didn't get to some of the greenhouses either.

I've been to Longwood a few times. I try to hit it on my way back to northern Virginia after the Philadelphia Flower Show. Makes for a long but fantastic day. Speaking of Caravan--I bought that at the last flower show and lost it within 6 months. I adore the looks of it but it has been a hard one for me to keep going.

You are just going to have to come back to this area soon! In small world news--I lived closer to your part of the world (Clemson) for a decade. I enjoyed visiting the Atlanta Botanical Gardens when I could.

I bet it makes for a long day but when you are close to the area, why not? I made two trips to PHOE (Coral Gables) when I do my annual trip to Orlando (Harmony trip for our annual sale). Miami/Coral Gables is a long day trip from Orlando but it is a lot closer than Atlanta. I'm glad I did as PHOE is now closed.

I still have a smidgen of Caravan left. It must love a greenhouse as Harmony grew them splendidly.

We love ABG but have not renewed this year - have to do it soon as they are running Scarecrows in the Garden (our grandson's exhibit is in it this year) and Night Lights won't be far behind (Xmas Lights).

My Caravan (when it was large)

I did not hear that PHOE closed! I still have the postcard for it on my fridge from my one trip there. I rented a car to go when I had to in Miami for work. The place was so magical, begonias growing in every nook and cranny. Why did it close?

Your Caravan looked great!

Very cool that your grandson will be exhibiting at ABG for Halloween. Fun!

They closed last year - after Mother's Day. I was intent on visiting it for my 6th (or 7th?) trip but visited Rick Schoellhorn at his home on the way to Orlando and he told me to check PHOE's website before visiting the next day. I was fortunate to 1) stop at Rick's home and 2) telling him my plans. It would have been bad to travel all the way to PHOE to find them closed. I was going to visit them another year but found out they were closed on Sunday so we went to Harry Leu Gardens in Orlando instead.

Tim A. had a massive stroke a few years back and I guess it was too much to run the place after that? Selling the home would probably be used for his nursing care as well?

PHOE was always a great place to see "old Florida" but the staff seemed lackadaisical (some spoke on English so maybe that was a reason). My last visit was during a downpour and nobody was in sight - no workers and no customers. I could've walked out with an armful of stuff that day.

I hope the rain is evident in this picture

I didn't get to do much exploring this day which turned out to be my last visit. This was 2014. I didn't go in 2015 - just one night trip then but went for two nights last year. I thought I would go see the orchid center down around West Palm Beach but it is closed down as well. Guess real estate is more valuable than garden centers in recent years?

Caravan, Magdalen Madsen, and listada have always been an enigma for me to grow. Maybe they require to be drier?

I will have to post some pictures of scarecrows in the garden?

That really makes me sad. A place to see old Florida is a very apt description. My parents used to take us to FL on vacation a lot. All the crazy atrractions and roadside stands. PHOE fits right in. Do you know what the new owner plans to do with all the plants? Lots of us would clear them if they just plan to level the place.

Lovely pictures. I have some somewhere. Yes, i can see the rain.

I am promising myself to go to the convention this year. Are the dates set for sure?

Americana is slowly disappearing for good or bad? Old country roads are bypassed these days - saves a few minutes using the new roads but also cuts out some old buildings and things you don't see often like giant statutes of most anything (cowboys, chickens, cows, etc). We never stopped at those places but we often looked forward to going by them to break up a 600 mile trip (from Norfolk to middle TN once a year to visit my grandmother).

I don't know what is planned for PHOE - it is still residential unless the neighbors sold out too. Those were big lots - a few acres? A lot of condos could be built on the property.

Oh yeah, the dates are set in concrete for the convention 2018 - visit the ABS website to get the skinny. In fact they are encouraging us to book our rooms TODAY if not a couple of weeks ago. I asked Freda (one of the co-chairs) why so early. I don't remember all the reasons she gave me but I hate to book a room months in advance. I'm more the type to wait until the weekend before to book everything - room, flight, and rental car.

PHOE was always a great place to visit. This was from 2009

He had Judy Cook placed in several places

a welcoming sight when entering

He had imperialis (or Silver Jewel or whatever he had it listed as) was under a lot of benches

I passed this by a couple of times until it caught my attention that this was a HUGE begonia - Maggie Nodal. I couldn't find any plants of it at PHOE but that evening at the sale, they had some so I bought two. It is a big begonia.

Mrs. Ludwig (I bought one at my first convention - Miami 2006 from the same place - PHOE)

Judy Cook is a large lovely rex like begonia and easy to grow
Caribbean Corsair has given me fits over the years but I still have one.

A few grottos or small fish ponds in the parking area gave me a sense of serenity before even entering this magical place.
How could he grow so many rexes (or rex-like) begonias when most Floridians say they cannot grow rexes there?

Wow! You take such lovely pictures! I can't get enough of them. I remember how it looked, all the moss everywhere was very serene. I remember all the Silver Queen under the benches. I am lucky I got to go one time. I don't remember what I bought but I do remember hauling plants home in my carry on on the plane. I like the looks of the bloom stalks on Mrs. Ludwig. Do the big begonias get that big for you? I would imagine they would need to be outdoors year round to get so big.

I just went to the ABS website--April 2-8, but I could not find info about cost/registration.

I found it better to visit PHOE in person versus buying from them mail order. I had to call back a couple of times as I waited and waited for my delivery. When I called back they said they were glad I did because they lost the order or my mailing address or some excuse. The plants they shipped were much smaller and cost as much as a gallon size at the store.

They had most of their plants in pots but then they had the climate and space to have very BIG pots. Some were in the ground and they do seem to get a lot bigger. I have had some very large plants in 18 inch pots over the years but it such an ordeal to drag in big pots every fall. I will show pictures of them in this post.

I don't remember Silver Queen at PHOE. I bet you meant Silver Jewel (imperialis is how I bought it at PHOE).

I haven't looked into the particulars of the upcoming convention. Personally I hate the idea of planning a trip that far in advance as I don't know what will be on my plate then. So I put it off as long as possible.

Here is Silver Queen and Can Can (or is it Cancan) to the left. Either sizemorea or one of its hybrids is peeking into the same photo.

Silver Jewel or Brown Jewel or Green Jewel at PHOE (can't keep up with the jewels and I've never seen brown in Brown Jewel anyway).

This might be pustulata in this first photo

Here is what they had a lot of under their benches.

This was Rex ' Frances Valentine' with imperialis and a nice forest of small ferns.

Almost like a weed?

This was my biggest ever begonia - Lotusland

Caribbean Queen was a giant too.

C. King was not too shabby either.

Challenger lived up to its name.

Red Umbo is one of my biggest today (and this is a starter plant)

I couldn't post more than 10 at a time.

Here is my mother plant of Red Umbo but I can't show the entire plant in one photo as I have to walk around the other side of the deck to see the other side.

The side exposed to the afternoon sun. Freddie in a smaller pot still has some good sized leaves.

Maggie Nodal two years ago as its location this year is squeezed between hearts a bursting (Euonymus Americana) and some big brugmansias. This is in an 18 inch pot.

B. popenoei gets large too but I don't have any in large pots. My biggest plant of it with Morocco at its feet.

Love 'Silver Jewel'. Does it require greenhouse atmosphere or is it easy to grow?

B. imperialis (Silver Jewell or Jewel) would probably be better in a terrarium but I grow this in normal air in the basement during winter (one or two furnaces running or combo AC in the basement and heat on the main floor) and outdoors in summer. It gets pretty ragged looking at times and gorgeous at other times. I think the stress of acclimating to changing conditions causes this so I you want it looking its best, I'd go with a terrarium. It probably needs to be repotted as it has been in the same pot for years. Here it is in August, 2014 where it looked pretty good even if I have to say so myself. HAHA!

Spectacular! Worth a go. Have you considered selling on ebay? Really easy and fun actually. I'm pretty sure I would be a loyal repeat customer.

I have teased about selling but so far, I don't even want to get involved. Maybe later on I will think about it.

It certainly is cramped in the basement.

Wow! Just wow. Hope you change your mind.

I will announce it here if I ever do change my mind. HA!

when i plugged this address into google maps

http://www.todanderson.com landscaping showed up, they seem to be open.

the phone is different, so may be it's just landscaping services and not a nursery for public, don't know.

Thanks for the info petrushka. I sure hate to hear that PHOE as we knew it is gone. Progress? It is sad but life goes on. I hope his hybrids are in many collections so his legacy lives on.

The last year I went was in 2014 and some of the planter boxes were falling apart in the parking lot.

But the plants and sounds of the waterfalls and Zen music were always inviting.

It was a shame my last visit would be during a downpour.

driving back to Orlando after my visit was a bit daunting