Fort Worth Botanic Garden Begonia Species Bank and Collection

 

     The last tour of the American Begonia Society Convention was a visit to the Fort Worth Botanic Garden Begonia Species Bank and Collection.  They hold the largest collection of begonias in North America, including hundreds of species and rare cultivated varieties. In 2015, the FWBG became the first botanic garden in Texas to receive accreditation for its Begonia collection through the Plant Collections Network and currently has the only accredited Begonia collection in the nation.

     This part of the garden is not open to the public and they have strict protocols in place to protect the collection.

     Begonias grow in the wild throughout tropical and subtropical regions of the world, and often face loss of habitat from deforestation, logging, mining, and agriculture. The FWBG Begonia Species Bank serves as insurance against their extinction. Additions are constantly being made to the collection through propagation and the acquisition of new species.

A few statistics on begonias!

There are many begonias in the collection and here are a few that caught my eye!

B. Martha Stewart

It's always great to see these two in a Botanic Garden!

American Begonia Society Convention - Begonia Show

 

The 2026 American Begonia Society National Convention & Southwest Region Get-Together was in Fort Worth Texas.  It was hosted by the Mae Blanton Dallas Fort Worth Branch and the Fort Worth Botanic Garden Begonia Species Bank and Collection.  Here are pictures of the begonia show.

B. Rex won the Peoples Choice award

B. 'Martha Stewart'

b. masoniana

B. variegata 

B. 'Steve's Leaves Mr. Miller'

B. wollnyi 

B. wollnyi 

B. melanobullata

B. 'Pink Minx'

B. 'Snow Capped' (variegated) 1st Place Best Cane (Lou Dyess Award) Arielle Brooks

B. Rain Dance

B. 'Bobbie Price'

B. 'Copper Sunset'

B. 'Nola'

B. chloroneura

B. natunaensis 

B. 'Red Bull'

B. Uknown Rex

B. ludwigii 

B. 'Torch'

B. listada

B. 'Challenger'

B. 'Pulsar'

B. dregei

B. 'Withlacoochee' (variegated)

B. 'Steve's Leaves Wow'

Here are begonias grown in terrariums.

b. batuphila grown by Jonathan Ball 

Mixed Terrarium B. polilloensis, B. chingipengii, B. blancii 'mottled' grown by Kari Brooks

B. pteridoides grown by Douglas Hahn

B. montis-elephantis 

Contained Atmosphere Multiple Begonias

B. ningmingensis var. bella grown by Kathy Barrows

B. bullatifolia

B. amphioxus x ignita grown by Douglas Byrom

B. lichenora grown by Douglas Byrom

There was also some begonia related stained glass and photography in the show.

Stained Glass by Khairil Azhar Junos

Begonia Photography B. 'Connee Boswell' by Myra Burkhardt

The Fort Worth Botanic Garden Begonia Species Bank and Collection, included an exhibit on their begonia photography project.