This begonia was hybridized by Martin Johnson in Redwood City in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1970s. It is a sister seedling of B. ‘Connee Boswell’ which was released in 1978. B. ‘Little Brother Montgomery’ was released a couple years later.
The cross was B. palmata var. x B. palmata x B. diadema. Of course, this makes both plants rhizomatous, jointed at or below the soil with erect stems. B. ‘Conne Boswell’ is quite pretty with silver-lavender blends and B. ‘Little Brother Montgomery’ is a mix of blackish-brown and silver with a red highlight in the umbo (the place where the leaf joins the petiole). Both have star-shaped leaves.
Of the two, B. ‘Little Brother Montgomery’ seems to be the easier of the two for most Sacramento growers. B. ‘Little Brother Montgomery’ is less likely to desegment as cooler, darker weather approaches. It also seems to tolerate heat better than its sister.
