Peter Troch, the Begonia Merchant

Peter Troch in a colorful field of begonias with our Dutch Gardens bulb expert, Maarten van den Nouland. Dutch Gardens is proud to offer several excellent Troch begonias, including Pink Wave, Golden Wave and Sweet Dream.

Peter Troch of Oostakker, Belgium, grew up surrounded by tuberous begonias. His father started growing them on their family farm in 1935. Over the years, the family became increasingly involved in wholesaling begonias rather than growing them. Today, Peter Troch and his brother Jan own and operate the world's leading tuberous begonia bulb wholesaling business. Working with some 25 growers, they export top-quality begonia hybrids throughout Europe, North America and Japan.

Peter started with the business in 1983. While he still loves growing begonias, his main joy is working with about 25 breeders and growers. To produce the best quality tuberous begonias Peter believes the growers need a strong organization from production to processing and he does everything he can to help them achieve this goal.

He's watched the industry change over the past 25 years. Peter used to spend three weeks traveling in the United States each year visiting about 30 growers and customers. Now he has less than 10 customers in the U.S. Instead, Eastern Europe is beginning to open up as a begonia market and he anticipates visiting more growers there in the future.

Peter believes gardeners under-appreciate the versatility of tuberous begonias. "Most people think that it's only the non-stop begonia varieties that bloom all summer," he says. "But actually all begonias bloom continuously." Tuberous begonias perform well in containers, hanging baskets or in the garden. A shady location with plenty of moisture is what's most important for success.

Peter Troch evaluates varieties growing in a greenhouse.

Someone who evaluates hundreds of tuberous begonia varieties each year must have a few favorites. Peter is particularly proud of his new variety Sweet Dream, which is available from Dutch Gardens. Sweet Dream's salmon-colored blooms have a citrus scent, making it the first tuberous begonia ever developed with a fragrance. In 2006, Sweet Dream received the Green Thumb Award from the Mail Order Gardening Association.

Peter is also very enthusiastic about the company's Pink Wave and Golden Wave begonias. Pink Wave has distinctive, pink picotee edging on its double flowers. Golden Wave features huge, 5-6", double flowers in different shades of yellow with a distinct orange picotee. Because the plants of both these Wave begonias have a true cascading growth habit, the flowers are easy to view when grown in hanging baskets.

Peter's vision of the future for tuberous begonias is bright. He's sees new varieties with more unique colors and forms and ones versatile enough to grow in pots, baskets or in the ground. Peter is always looking for stronger growth habits and more varieties with fragrance.