Pots, begonias, and more -- maybe much more

My gardening friend Mike emailed me a couple of weeks ago saying that he had a lot of large nursery pots that he wanted to get rid of, and wondered if I was interested. I told him YES, but couldn't get out there right away. Yesterday morning he gave me a reminder call, asking if I'd be able to pick them up this weekend, and if so, he wanted to show me his begonia collection. He caught me between projects, so I jumped in the truck, excited to get a few big pots -- I knew I'd be needing them next year.

A couple of hours later, I had packed the truck with as many pots as I could. Mike wanted me to take more, but I think I'll be hard-pressed to use all of these next year (although I do have an alarming number of elephant ear bulbs that will need potting).

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Not only did I come home with dozens of pots though, I also got several buckets (what gardener doesn't have a need for a few more buckets?), and a sampling of plants:

A few begonias and one Sansevieria were what I carried home, but it was Mike's hope that I would be taking home much more. Much, much more.

You see, he wants to find somebody to take over his entire begonia collection, which looked to be approximately 30 plants.

He was giving me quite the sales pitch, suggesting easy and cheap ways to make tables, and offering to give me all of the fluorescent light fixtures he uses to overwinter these plants too.

Since I already have a garage full of semi-dormant plants, a two-shelved table of plants under growlights, and several potted plants on the floor around the table, I accepted a few interesting plants, but had to decline his offer.

He said that I had another month or so to decide, and that he'd be happy to give away just half of the collection (and lights) -- whatever I could take. I told him I'd think about it.

So now I have a few types of begonias, of which I know almost nothing. Although I repeated the names of the varieties he gave me until I had them right, I've forgotten them already.

Mike thought that I might find growing the begonias to be quite rewarding. That may be, but if they require a lot of special care I may lose interest -- I prefer plants that I can forget about once in a while.

That's why I accepted the Sansevieria:

I know I won't be able to kill this guy (unless I overwater it).

So new plants and the potential for a lot more. I'm considering Mike, I'm considering.

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