When Brad Thompson decided to get interested in begonias, he went big, very big! Brad began collecting and creating new Begonia varieties in 1988. By 1990, he had a collection of four to five hundred plants, entering his own hybrids into competitions around the Los...
While many of the Hall of Fame members are honored for their skills at organizing the society, or scientific accomplishment, Irene Nuss was the embodiment of a community builder. She was everyone’s friend and humble but very knowledgeable. She was, at the end of her...
Rudolf ‘Rudy’ Ziesenhenne was the “Dean” of California Begonia growers, and “Mr. Begonia” to many others in the society. He was the backbone of science and taxonomy in the beginning of the society, and a friend and mentor to most other members of the Hall of Fame. His...
Herbert P. Dyckman was born of pioneer parents in Aurora, Illinois, on April 11, 1884. He was an avid gardener and by 14 was collecting begonias. In his teens he was forced to leave school and fill his father’s shoes to assist his mother in raising his brothers and...
Bessie Raymond Buxton was born in Danvers, MA in 1877. She lost her mother while still a child and was raised, along with her younger sister, by her aunt, Sarah Wilson in Peabody, MA. Not much is known about Bessie’s early life. She married Henry H. Buxton, and the...
Alfred D. Robinson was born in Watton, Norfolk, England, and emigrated to the US in 1887 at the age of 21. After a brief stint as a cattle rancher, he became a medical instruments merchant with the firm Hoppe and Robinson in Santa Ana, California. In 1897, he married...
