I’m thrilled with the performance of the ‘Heat Elite Pink’ begonias I grew from seed this year.
I sprouted the seeds in late winter, and in May I planted them in various places in my yard including a part-shade planter (see above), an east-facing planter that gets harsh morning sun for about 2 hours but then is in shade for the rest of the day, and in one of my flowerbeds that receives morning and afternoon high shade but is in full sun during the hottest parts of the day.
All of the plants have performed wonderfully. Even the ones that get full sun from about 11am to 3pm have grown bushy and sport hundreds of pink flowers.
I’ve never seen a begonia do this well in harsh sun before. And the plants certainly had a rough start. They were transplanted into the ground on an unusually chilly day in late May. The soil was so cold I thought they might get transplant shock. But then three days later the temperature hit a record high of 97 degrees and the little plants went from sitting in chilly soil to baking in the sun. I thought they would be goners for sure since they’d just spent the last 12 weeks in my basement under lights, and I’d only adjusted them to the outdoors for one week before planting them in the ground. Other than a little sunburn on the leaves, they were fine!
‘Heat Elite Pink’ grows 16 to 20 inches tall with bright green leaves and rosy-pink flowers. No pests or diseases bother the plants and they need no tidying or deadheading. I’m hooked!
The company I purchased the seeds from is no longer showing them for sale, and if you try to do a search for this plant on the internet, you get very few hits, so I’m a little worried that I may never be able to find seeds for this cultivar again. But if I do, I will definitely sprout more of these bushy, free-blooming begonias.