This stunningly otherworldly plant found me by way of a single leaf, unrooted cutting. I stumbled upon this species at a rare plant shop called Botanicaz. I didn’t know much at all about Begonias at the time – I mainly collected Aroids and Hoyas – but this shimmery, pink spotted, iridescent, velvety leaf called to me. I decided to try my hand a a whole new genus of plants… and I’m so incredibly glad that I did, as she quickly became one of my most coveted plant friends.
This rare variety of Angel Wing Begonias is from Sabah, Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Often found growing on the damp rock faces of massive caves on the island, these glittery leaf plants require high humidity (60% or more) and partial sun. Living in dry Colorado, it was a mission of mine to make sure that I gave this single leaf everything that it needed to thrive. I didn’t want this stunning beauty to get crispy edges due to the dry climate & with this being the first very high humidity plant that I owned, I planned a makeshift terrarium once she rooted.
Surprisingly my lone leaf rooted in water in just a few short weeks, much like a fast rooting philodendron cutting. I transferred her into a 3″ succulent pot with nothing but spaghnam moss as the media. I used a cheap, straight body, wide mouth glass vase turned upside down over the cutting to create a high humidity environment and placed her in indirect sunlight about 10 feet away from the west facing window. This made a perfect tiny ecosystem for my Malachosticta, and I really just left here alone after that. At this point she was zero maintenance since the humidity kept the moss moist enough that I didn’t even need to water her for weeks at a time.
It took only a couple weeks to sprout her 2nd leaf and then she grew a new leaf every 1-2 weeks after that. Within about 2 months, the plant outgrew the pot, the media, and the makeshift 12″ tall terrarium. I transferred the plant into a 6″ pot with a fast draining soil / perlite mix, & some spaghnam moss around the base. I didn’t find a vase or terrarium that was large enough to comfortably fit this fast growing species so I got creative again and lined the bottom of a large glass salad bowl that I didn’t often use with rocks, set the pot on top of the rocks and filled the bowl with water just below the edge of the pot’s saucer to create constant evaporation humidity. This time I placed her in the direct sunlight of a west facing window and hoped that all of these massive changes would be acceptable to her – I had gotten her this far and would have been so devastating to see her go downhill. So I had thought that this plant was such an incredibly fast grower in her previous terrarium setup but I would say the growth rate doubled once I repotted and moved her into the direct sunlight. I couldn’t even keep up with her growth. Right now she has 14 growth points.
I feel like I have a personal connection with all 150 or so of my plants, especially the ones that I root myself (I know some of my plant loving friends out there can relate), but I’ve always felt a special affinity to this particular one. My one lone begonia. Just the other night, I had a very vivid dream that she gave me a single, beautiful bloom. Having never seen a bloom, even on a google search, from the Malachos tic ta, I had no idea what to expect if and when she finally did bloom. Much to my complete surprise, the morning that I woke after the dream, I turned her around to find a single bloom hiding window-side atop this strange, triangular shaped pod. Nearly identical to my dream. And, I could see another one forming down the stem. Her first bloom happened at around 6 months after the cutting rooted.
As one of my most stunning and unusual plants, she still is my one and only Begonia, though once the weather turns warmer for plant mail, I’m so excited to explore more varieties of this incredible genus. If you also live in a dry climate, please don’t discount these amazing tropical and subtropical plants. It’s pretty simple to create a lush environment with very little money or time. I wish that I had had more confidence in creating a conducive, high humidity environment for them so that I could have experienced these kinds of stunning plants earlier. If you are able to find a Malachos tic ta cutting, don’t hesitate for a moment to grab it. She will enchant you at first sight.
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