Begonia ‘Cocktail’ is a reliable, low-maintenance, and compact annual summer flower. This variety stands out for its dark, bronze-red foliage, which provides a strong contrast and highlights the bright flowers. The plant grows into a uniform mound approximately 25 cm tall and maintains its attractive appearance throughout the summer season.
For the practical gardener, this is a very versatile plant. Due to its low and dense form, it is ideal for balcony boxes, edging flowerbeds, and urban landscaping. Thanks to their high durability and low maintenance requirements, ‘Cocktail’ series begonias are also a very common choice for cemetery landscaping. The package contains 20 pelleted seeds – meaning the naturally dust-fine begonia seeds are coated with a special shell, making individual sowing easy and precise.
Usage and Cultivation Instructions:
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Sowing time: Indoors in February or March (in seed trays or pots) for pre-cultivation.
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Sowing: Begonia is a light germinator. Press the pelleted seeds lightly onto the surface of moist seed-starting soil, but do not cover them with soil.
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Germination conditions: The germination temperature should be 20–23 °C. Keep the sowing surface uniformly moist by covering the container with glass or plastic.
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Location: Prefers a sunny but sheltered spot. The soil must be nutrient-rich and well-drained.
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Planting outdoors: Young plants should only be planted in open ground or outdoor boxes once the danger of night frost has completely passed (usually in early June in Estonia).
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Planting distance: When planting in a flowerbed, leave a distance of 15–20 cm between plants.
Tips and recommendations:
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The coating of the pelleted seed must dissolve during germination. To achieve this, spray the sown seeds very carefully with room-temperature water using a fine-mist spray bottle.
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Begonias are mostly self-cleaning, meaning they drop old flowers. This eliminates the tedious task of picking withered blooms, making plant maintenance very easy.
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During pre-cultivation, when the plants have developed their first true leaves (about 4-5 weeks after sowing), prick out (replant) the plants at wider intervals or into individual small pots to allow the root system to develop strongly.