where in zone 5 ....

and do you have a latin name ...

in my z5 MI .. they must be dug ... and stored for winter ..

ken

troveoftrilliums,

Begonia grandis is the hardiest I know of, which is zone 6+, not 5 sadly. If you can find a microclimate to suit the begonia, if might survive in z5. Against your house and covered in winter maybe? Grandis only like light shade at minimum though, and in zone 5 they might not even want that much shade. If you can find one at the right price, it's worth a try. I would also try posting this topic in begonia forum.

the link ... first one.. says hardy to st louis..

are you north or south of such ..

that may be the defining issue ...

z5 is simply too broad a stroke to guess .. or be definitive ..

zone info is basically JUST minimum winter temp ...

but in my z5 MI .. the ground can freeze over a foot deep .. wherein i will bet.. magical st louis does not have that kind of cold penetration.. though they have the same min temp ... see the difference???

good luck

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

We are in SE Iowa. We have had a couple of milder winters with snapdragons and gladiolus overwintering, but we are prone to ridiculously lows any given winter as well.

I hadn't thought of lifting them though. I lift a couple of dahlias and a ton of glads, surely I can make room for some hardy begonias too. :)

Thanks for the replies.

This post was edited by trovesoftrilliums on Tue, May 7, 13 at 15:24