ABS | American Begonia Society

Growth Habits of Begonias

With so many species of begonias, and so many thousands of new cultivars, it became important along the way for growers to categorize their begonias in hopes of making things simpler. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that with so many cultivars combining their...

Guidelines for Begonia Nomenclature

Nomenclature is always an odd topic; because there is formal botanic nomenclature and then there are the horticultural or common garden names we use when we are casually talking about plants. Botanical nomenclature’s purpose is to avoid confusion when communicating...

Basic Information

The genus Begonia includes two thousand species from tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia, Central and South America…

The Hybrids of Virginia Kettler (1928?-2000)

Virginia Kettler was perhaps a bit more of a recreational hybridizer than others. She was simply curious to see what happened when two plants were crossed. She was more engaged in trialing the works of other breeders in the Houston, TX area. So she tested hybrids for...

The Hybrids of Ross Bolwell

Ross Bolwell hails from Annandale, NSW in Australia where he began hybridizing in the 1980’s and is still going strong in 2021. Ross’s hybridizing spans many different types of Begonias, and he has 477 named cultivars on record with more coming. Ross & Christine...