Advice needed about begonia

Just saw your post .
I wouldn't plant put any tender plants at the moment - snow is due .
Always wait until the last frost has passed :

My mother loved Begonias and grew the tuber rooted types.
B .Rex - she regarded as an indoor plant.
She'd start her tubers indoors .
They like ericaceous soil
I've never grown them.
I have a problem with my neighbour's marauding cats and they would sit on them.
I think they'd be too tender to survive .

And neither have I grown -
Picea Glauca Conica which come from Alberta .
They are medium sized slow growing dwarves.
You can shape them with secateurs .
They would require easily draining soil and prefer an acid medium .
And be careful that you haven't planted them in a windy bit of your garden or like many pines they'll get ugly brown wind burn .

Wishing you lots of luck with your garden .

PS :
Heathers would look very pretty surrounding dwarf pines .
I'd plant a variety in blocks of three .

Buy tubers at the garden centre or young plants. Ideally grow them on indoors where they get lots of light but won’t suffer low temperatures. Acclimatise to the outdoors once all chance of frost has passed.
In the autumn I lift the plants, remove the foliage and wrap the tubers in newspapers for the next year.

Thank you Esmay and Esspee for your advice.

Esmay, my dwarf pines will be well sheltered from wind, with early morning sun. This should be good for my white heathers too, when I can find them. I had a pink one in a pot last year, in a similar position and it flowered through to late Autumn.

Esspee, very interesting how you preserve the begonia tubers. I will try to do the same this year, if they last until the Autumn.

Am in Central Italy and my problem will be keeping my pines, heathers and begonias cool enough and moist enough, although they will be mostly in shade. Every year seems to get hotter and drier here!

We've just had our first constant rainfall since January! Serious drought in the north and the south.

I grow both types of begonias but they are summer plants. Most people tend to dry out the tubers but I just leave them in the pots, overwinter in the garage, then pot up with fresh compost each year. They provide a magnificent display for the patio. The fibrous ones treat as bedding plants they can be bought after frost as finished and potted up or put into the garden.