DIRT

THE IDEAL WAY TO SATISFY THE URGE TO GARDEN WHEN THE WEATHER TURNS COLD

While the next six weeks are chock-a-block with gardening must-dos, it's almost inevitable that there will soon come a day when you must have a plant fix. And more than often, the solace of the fat 2007 plant catalogues just won't be enough (especially this year, without Roslyn and Heronswood). The need to revel in a blossom or leaf, to create a deft arrangement of subtle colors—or more boldly, living dots and stripes—often grips at unexpected times. Don't fret. There is something fabulous to satiate your winter gardening desire.

The trick is to not think of plants kept in the house as "houseplants"—a dowdy idea if there ever was one—or that raising them is too hard if you do not have an orangerie or at least a sunroom with a drain in the floor. Forget about water (and water stains) everywhere, gargantuan pots that sprout slime, invading bugs with pasty white mucous and crawly flying things that spin nets. It's time for begonias. They are different and they are gorgeous.

Well-behaved and unattractive to pests, begonias are, without question, the most resplendently colored and patterned of any plant in the entire kingdom. Don't think of simple bedding wax begonias or even their more beautiful cousins, the camellia-like tuberous begonias—these floriferous but boring plants have nothing to do with the extravagant Rex begonias. These flower too, of course, and usually for a long period, but the sweet-peaish blooms are just an extra-added bonus.