Begonia grandis , or hardy begonia, is one of my favorite perennials.  Last fall when a gardener friend offered to give me a few plants from her garden, I instantly said yes!  I had known about Begonia grandis for awhile but hadn't gotten around to planting it in my garden.  Now, a year later, the plants are filling in nicely around the base of my Limelight hydrangea. 

Hardy begonia is listed as a Plant of Merit with 4.5 stars out of 5 on the Missouri Botanical Garden's website (mobot.org).  According to mobot's website, the hardy begonia is hardy to Zone 6 however I have seen it listed in other resources as hardy to Zone 5.  It  survived winter in my Zone 5 garden and I have witnessed it surviving year after year in a client's garden that is also Zone 5. 

Hardy begonia can get 1-2 feet tall and has pink blooms from July to October.  My favorite characteristic though, is the pronounced red veining on the underside of the heart-shaped foliage.  Like the annual begonia, hardy begonia performs best in part to full shade and in average to moist soils.  It mixes well in a woodland garden setting with plants such as hostas and ferns.  The plants can self-seed but not aggressively.  It's native range is from Malaysia to China and Japan.