Rex begonias arrived in European cultivation in the 1850s from the subtropical forests of Bhutan and northern Myanmar, where they clung to humid slopes beneath the forest canopy. What plant collectors found was something unlike any foliage they had seen: leaves that seemed to have been hand-painted, layered with silver, gray, lavender, and maroon in patterns that shifted with the light. The hundreds of hybrids that followed only deepened that strangeness, producing plants whose leaves carry a metallic sheen as if lit from within.

Grown to 12 to 18 inches in containers or hanging baskets, the rex begonia is fundamentally an indoor plant in most climates, thriving on bright indirect light and the elevated humidity of a bathroom or kitchen. The small pinkish-white flowers that appear are easy to miss — and mostly beside the point. What matters is the foliage, which demands nothing more than consistent moisture, good drainage, and protection from direct sun. Where zone 10 winters are mild enough, it earns a place in the garden proper, painting shade beneath trees in colors no other foliage can match.