Wax begonia

Meet the wax begonia, the bedding plant with the glossy, rounded leaves and a never-ending supply of small pink, red or white flowers. Its leaves are either fresh green or deep bronze, and the flowers sit just above them in tight, tidy clusters.

It is the shade gardener's bedding flower, which matters in a city of tall walls and covered terraces. RHS says it grows best in partial shade, and UF/IFAS says wax begonias thrive in sun or shade. Abu Dhabi emirate's Al Ain municipality lists begonia among the flowers it plants through the year.

In Dubai it needs a little more thought than petunia or geranium. We found no Dubai source that gives a planting window for it, so this page follows the cool season used for other Dubai bedding flowers and UF/IFAS's advice that in South Florida wax begonias can be planted in the fall as cool-season annuals.

Wax begonias, the Semperflorens group of Begonia, are fibrous-rooted, tender perennials grown as annuals (RHS). UF/IFAS says they are the most popular begonias for landscape beds, with single or double flowers in red, pink and white over green or bronze foliage, that they thrive in sun or shade and suit landscape beds and containers, and that they are tender to cold. The plants stay low, 15–30 cm tall (RHS gives up to 50 cm).

Light and water are the two things that matter. RHS grows them in partial shade, in fertile, moist but well-drained soil; UF/IFAS says to look for a spot with several hours of morning sun, and that many begonias tolerate more sun if they are kept moist but not too wet. Both say drainage matters: UF/IFAS warns that begonias rot if they are overwatered or planted where the soil stays wet, and lists Pythium root rot and crown rot among the diseases. Dubai's sand drains freely, so the work is to keep it moist enough and to add compost for nutrients, since RHS recommends a neutral to slightly acid soil and a Dubai landscaping guide links yellow leaves with green veins to iron deficiency in alkaline soil.

The season is the open question. Al Ain's municipality lists begonia among its varieties without giving a season, and no Dubai source gives a planting date. UF/IFAS describes wax begonias as tender, warmth-loving plants that can be planted in fall as cool-season annuals in South Florida, but Dubai's mean maximum reaches 38.2 °C in May and 41.9 °C in August, so Florida experience does not carry over and a Dubai wax begonia is realistically a cool-season plant, in shade, from October to about April.