It’s impossible to overstate the vivacious colour raging through the domed growing house at Peter Harris’ and Jesse Exiner’s White House Nursery. There are enormous, ruffled, ebullient flowers in pinks and peaches, in acid reds and buttery yellows, in whites and lime greens. It’s jaw dropping.

“It’s like your grandmother’s 1950s chintz sofa,” Harris says of the collection of tuberous begonias he has been putting together for more than eight years. “It just blows my mind.”

Harris likes tuberous begonias with ruffled rose-like formsCredit:Megan Backhouse

And as if this cacophony of blooms needed extra pomp, Exiner has arranged before it a row of outrageously lacey wrought iron chairs so that you can sit down and soak up the begonia display the two are running from their mail-order nursery in Ashbourne, near Woodend, until early April.

This is the third year, the two have run the show that – this being tuberous begonia season – coincides with the Ballarat Begonia Festival. While the Ballarat event, which was established in 1953 and this year runs from March 11 to 13, features begonia cultivars acquired from breeders around the world including some that have been growing in the town for more than 120 years, the White House Nursery largely focuses on new crosses bred by Harris.

They come in an array of vivacious colours.Credit:Megan Backhouse

Every year Harris hand pollinates hundreds of tuberous begonias, by transferring the pollen from one flower to the stigma of another, gradually making them fuller and frillier as he goes. “Look at them, look at the total flamboyance of them. Is that over the top or what?”

Peter Harris has been building up this collection for more than eight years.Credit:Megan Backhouse

Despite the begonias’ long history in Australia, these plants, which mostly originated in South and Central America, Africa and southern Asia, are currently having a moment. First the houseplant boom got us tending rhizomatous and cane-stemmed begonias with their stripy, spotty, spiralling or otherwise brazen foliage. And now attention is turning to the tuberous types, hybrids with what is often complex parentage and which have most of the flamboyance in the flower.

While the flowers of tuberous begonias can resemble everything from camellias and water lilies to gerberas, Harris says he “loves the big ruffled rose-like” ones best. “That’s what I am crossing for. I like thick stems and proud double flowers, not the head hangers.”

While Harris makes growing tuberous begonias look easy, they are not set and forget. Sometimes it is easiest to treat them as an indoor annual or long-lasting flower arrangement because, while they can flower from January to May, they do have particular needs. They like shade, cool nights, good drainage and moist soil.

Jesse Exiner (left) and Peter Harris at their White House Nursery.Credit:Megan Backhouse

You need to keep them away from direct sun, put them outside at night and water them regularly. But you also need to be careful not to over-irrigate, which can also kill them. Only water if the soil feels dry when you stick your finger into it. And try not to wet the foliage at night as the leaves are susceptible to powdery mildew.

You also need to wind twine around the flower stems to support the weight of the blooms and, another potential stumbling block is the fact that, come winter, tuberous begonias are entirely dormant with the flowers, leaves and stems falling off. To keep the tuber for next year, simply store it (in its pot is fine) in a dry place. It should start to re-sprout from mid-October when it will need a top-up of fresh potting mix and a slow-release fertiliser.

You can transfer it to a larger pot but be careful not to make too big of a jump in size. Harris recommends the rim of the new pot be only a few centimetres wider than the pot before. “Tuberous begonias are one of those plants that won’t forgive you if you over-pot.”

But treat a tuberous begonia right and Harris insists says they make the perfect head-turning houseplant. One that will just get bigger and brasher every year.

The White House Nursery Tuberous Begonia & Fuchsia Show is at 691 Ashbourne Road, Ashbourne via Woodend, every weekend until the first weekend in April, 10am to 4pm. Go to whitehousenursery.com.au for more information. The Ballarat Begonia Festival runs from Saturday March 11 to Monday March 13, 10am to 5pm. Go to ballaratbegoniafestival.com for more information.

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