BOUGAINVILLEA

Bougainvillea is a genus of thorny ornamental vines, bushes, and trees with flower-like spring leaves near its flowers. Different authors accept between four and 18 species in the genus

Scientific name: Bougainvillea

Higher classification: Nyctaginaceae

Rank: Genus

 Bougainvillea is a tropical, shrub-like vine that bursts forth with colorful flowers for 11 months of the year if it's planted in the right climate. To grow bougainvillea, plant it in full sun, slightly acidic and well-drained soil, and a relatively hot and dry climate. Continue caring for your bougainvillea plant by watering sparingly, fertilizing every few months, pruning at the end of the season, and training it the climb a nearby wall or trellis. When cared for properly, this beautiful plant should return each year.

 They need at least 6 hours a day to produce all that color we love.  Not enough sun = not enough bloom.  Warm temps – they love heat.  1 or 2 nights of a light frost won’t harm them but anything more that could.  The recommended USDA zones are 9B through 11.  They’re better suited to drier climes – we don’t get rain here for 8 or 9 months out of the year.  Well drained soil – they’re not too fussy about soil type but it must drain freely.  A mixture of loam & organic compost worked into native soil is what they like. 

Bougainvillea plants do not transplant well, so select a sheltered planting site in full sun where they can grow undisturbed. They aren't overly fussy about the soil as long as it is well drained. However, the addition of compost, processed manure or peat moss to the planting hole will get your Bougainvillea off to a good start.
Bougainvilleas are very drought tolerant once established and should only be watered when the soil is dry an inch below the surface, except when growing in containers which should be kept slightly moist.
Feed your Bougainvillea monthly beginning in early spring using a low-nitrogen, bloom type fertilizer, following label directions carefully. Do not fertilize in the fall or winter.
Prune freely after blooming. Flowers appear on the new growth.

They come in many colors, types & sizes.  I’ve already done a post showing some of these options so be sure to check it out.  Colors run the gamut from white all the way to purple.  Double flowered varieties are available too.  You can get 1 with variegated foliage if you want some real pizazz in the garden.  There are ground cover & dwarf forms if you don’t want a monster plant.  And pay attention to height because some of the taller varieties don’t get as tall as others.  No lack of choices regarding choosing a bougainvillea. - See more at: http://www.joyusgarden.com/secrets-bougainvillea/#sthash.j2ke8lNZ.dpuf

They come in many colors, types & sizes.  I’ve already done a post showing some of these options so be sure to check it out.  Colors run the gamut from white all the way to purple.  Double flowered varieties are available too.  You can get 1 with variegated foliage if you want some real pizazz in the garden.  There are ground cover & dwarf forms if you don’t want a monster plant.  And pay attention to height because some of the taller varieties don’t get as tall as others.  No lack of choices regarding choosing a bougainvillea. - See more at: http://www.joyusgarden.com/secrets-bougainvillea/#sthash.j2ke8lNZ.dpuf

Bougainvilleas can be propagated with semi-hardwood cuttings taken in the spring. Bottom heat will speed the rooting process considerably.
Bougainvillea seeds can be sown indoors at any time of the year.
Maintain a temperature of 70°-75° within the growing medium until germination, which typically takes 30 days or longer.

Choosing A Bougainvillea: They come in many colors, types & sizes.  I’ve already done a post showing some of these options so be sure to check it out.  Colors run the gamut from white all the way to purple.  Double flowered varieties are available too.  You can get 1 with variegated foliage if you want some real pizazz in the garden.  There are ground cover & dwarf forms if you don’t want a monster plant.  And pay attention to height because some of the taller varieties don’t get as tall as others.  No lack of choices regarding choosing a bougainvillea.
Planting:  Bougs are tough as can be but are big babies when it comes to their roots.  They don’t like to have them disturbed.  You’ll have much better luck if you leave them in the grow pot when planting.  I cut the rim off & make slits in the sides & bottom of the pot.  Dig the hole twice as wide as deep & add in a good amount of loam (you don’t need this if your soil drains freely) & organic compost.  Water it in very deeply.  If you want it to grow against a wall or fence, then angle it that way.
Watering:  2 words – water deeply.  Bougainvillea likes to be watered well & have it drain out.  After established, they’re drought tolerant.  My Bougainvillea glabra didn’t get any water for 9 months last year & it’s lookin’ great.  Overwatering = no color (not to mention rot!).
Pruning / Trimming:  They need it as they’re very vigorous growers.  I give both of mine a harder pruning in mid-winter to set the shape I want them to be later on in the year.  I do this when the evenings are starting to warm a bit.  You don’t want to prune them if there’s any danger of frost on the horizon.  I do a few lighter prunings, or trimmings, after each flowering cycle during the seasons to keep them in that shape. The flowering cycles tend to run every 2 months.  Be sure to wear gloves – the majority of bougs have long thorns.  Blood has been shed!  They put out long, fleshy water shoots so be sure to prune those out – they mess up the shape.  Bougainvilleas bloom on new wood.  More pinching = more color.
Fertilizing:  I’ve never fertilized mine & they bloom just how I want them to.  There are lots of bougainvillea fertilizers on the market but the one that we recommended at the nursery was also for palms & hibiscus.  I don’t do this either but they’d probably enjoy a good dose of organic compost or worm compost every year.
- See more at: http://www.joyusgarden.com/secrets-bougainvillea/#sthash.j2ke8lNZ.dpuf

Choosing A Bougainvillea: They come in many colors, types & sizes.  I’ve already done a post showing some of these options so be sure to check it out.  Colors run the gamut from white all the way to purple.  Double flowered varieties are available too.  You can get 1 with variegated foliage if you want some real pizazz in the garden.  There are ground cover & dwarf forms if you don’t want a monster plant.  And pay attention to height because some of the taller varieties don’t get as tall as others.  No lack of choices regarding choosing a bougainvillea.
Planting:  Bougs are tough as can be but are big babies when it comes to their roots.  They don’t like to have them disturbed.  You’ll have much better luck if you leave them in the grow pot when planting.  I cut the rim off & make slits in the sides & bottom of the pot.  Dig the hole twice as wide as deep & add in a good amount of loam (you don’t need this if your soil drains freely) & organic compost.  Water it in very deeply.  If you want it to grow against a wall or fence, then angle it that way.
Watering:  2 words – water deeply.  Bougainvillea likes to be watered well & have it drain out.  After established, they’re drought tolerant.  My Bougainvillea glabra didn’t get any water for 9 months last year & it’s lookin’ great.  Overwatering = no color (not to mention rot!).
Pruning / Trimming:  They need it as they’re very vigorous growers.  I give both of mine a harder pruning in mid-winter to set the shape I want them to be later on in the year.  I do this when the evenings are starting to warm a bit.  You don’t want to prune them if there’s any danger of frost on the horizon.  I do a few lighter prunings, or trimmings, after each flowering cycle during the seasons to keep them in that shape. The flowering cycles tend to run every 2 months.  Be sure to wear gloves – the majority of bougs have long thorns.  Blood has been shed!  They put out long, fleshy water shoots so be sure to prune those out – they mess up the shape.  Bougainvilleas bloom on new wood.  More pinching = more color.
Fertilizing:  I’ve never fertilized mine & they bloom just how I want them to.  There are lots of bougainvillea fertilizers on the market but the one that we recommended at the nursery was also for palms & hibiscus.  I don’t do this either but they’d probably enjoy a good dose of organic compost or worm compost every year.
- See more at: http://www.joyusgarden.com/secrets-bougainvillea/#sthash.j2ke8lNZ.dpuf

Bougainvilleas can be grown as house plants but they will not bloom well indoors unless you can provide
a minimum of five hours of bright sun each day and adequate humidity.
They should be grown in a rich, well-drained commercial planting mix that is NOT pre-fertilized.
Repotting should be done in late winter or early in the spring.
Keep the soil evenly moist during the growing season, but allow it to gradually dry out by winter.
Feed actively growing plants every two weeks with a soluble house plant type fertilizer, following label directions carefully.
Bougainvilleas grow best with night temperatures of 65° and daytime temperatures of 70°-80°.
Grow your Bougainvillea on a strong trellis or prune it in the spring to maintain a shrubby growth habit.
Container grown Bougainvilleas can be moved to a sunny spot in the garden for the summer, but should be allowed to gradually dry out before bringing them back indoors by mid autumn.
Inspect your plants carefully for spider mites, mealybugs and scale before returning them to the house. 

Choosing A Bougainvillea: They come in many colors, types & sizes.  I’ve already done a post showing some of these options so be sure to check it out.  Colors run the gamut from white all the way to purple.  Double flowered varieties are available too.  You can get 1 with variegated foliage if you want some real pizazz in the garden.  There are ground cover & dwarf forms if you don’t want a monster plant.  And pay attention to height because some of the taller varieties don’t get as tall as others.  No lack of choices regarding choosing a bougainvillea.
Planting:  Bougs are tough as can be but are big babies when it comes to their roots.  They don’t like to have them disturbed.  You’ll have much better luck if you leave them in the grow pot when planting.  I cut the rim off & make slits in the sides & bottom of the pot.  Dig the hole twice as wide as deep & add in a good amount of loam (you don’t need this if your soil drains freely) & organic compost.  Water it in very deeply.  If you want it to grow against a wall or fence, then angle it that way.
Watering:  2 words – water deeply.  Bougainvillea likes to be watered well & have it drain out.  After established, they’re drought tolerant.  My Bougainvillea glabra didn’t get any water for 9 months last year & it’s lookin’ great.  Overwatering = no color (not to mention rot!).
Pruning / Trimming:  They need it as they’re very vigorous growers.  I give both of mine a harder pruning in mid-winter to set the shape I want them to be later on in the year.  I do this when the evenings are starting to warm a bit.  You don’t want to prune them if there’s any danger of frost on the horizon.  I do a few lighter prunings, or trimmings, after each flowering cycle during the seasons to keep them in that shape. The flowering cycles tend to run every 2 months.  Be sure to wear gloves – the majority of bougs have long thorns.  Blood has been shed!  They put out long, fleshy water shoots so be sure to prune those out – they mess up the shape.  Bougainvilleas bloom on new wood.  More pinching = more color.
Fertilizing:  I’ve never fertilized mine & they bloom just how I want them to.  There are lots of bougainvillea fertilizers on the market but the one that we recommended at the nursery was also for palms & hibiscus.  I don’t do this either but they’d probably enjoy a good dose of organic compost or worm compost every year.
- See more at: http://www.joyusgarden.com/secrets-bougainvillea/#sthash.j2ke8lNZ.dpuf

The Bougainvillea is an immensely showy, floriferous and hardy plant. Virtually pest-free and disease resistant, it rewards its owner with an abundance of color and vitality when it is well looked after. The bougainvillea’s versatility is legendary. It can be coaxed into a small manageable pot plant or a sizeable tree, to spread itself vertically on a wall, or climb up a trellis and form a luscious crown or burst forth into graceful arches. It makes one of the best hedges, bushes, and curb-liners. And as for bonsai or topiary purposes, it has few equals, lending its complex branching to the pruning shears, which promote even more unique and graceful forms. It is probably true to say that without the bougainvillea, our roads, parks, and private gardens would be a lot less colorful that what we see today. Almost everywhere we go, its brilliant hues and cheerful bursts punctuate the lush green mantle that cloaks our tropical environment. Other flowering plants certainly pale in comparison
Along with palms, sunshine, and beaches, the cascading blooms of bougainvillea provide one of Florida’s signature tropical images. As a profuse bloomer, bougainvillea is most striking during the winter, when it is at its peak and few other plants are able to provide color. Although it is frost-sensitive and hardy in zones 9b and 10, bougainvillea can be used as a houseplant or hanging basket in cooler climates. In the landscape, it makes an excellent hot season plant, and its drought tolerance makes bougainvillea ideal for warm climates year-round. Native to the coasts of Brazil, bougainvillea has a high salt tolerance, which makes it a natural choice for south Florida and other coastal regions. As a woody clambering vine, bougainvillea will stand alone and can be pruned into a standard, but it is perfect along fence lines, on walls, in containers and hanging baskets, and as a hedge or an accent plant. Its long arching branches are thorny, and bear heart-shaped leaves and masses of papery bracts in white, pink, orange, purple, and burgundy. Many cultivars, including double flowered and variegated, is available.  

History of Bougainvillea

A native to coastal Brazil, the bougainvillea was discovered in 1768 in Rio de Janeiro by French naturalist Dr. Philibert Commerçon (also sometimes spelled Commerson). The plant is named after his close friend and ship’s admiral Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, who commanded the ship La Boudeuse that sailed around the world between 1766-1769, and in which Commerçon was a passenger.
Twenty years after Commerçon’s discovery, it was first published as ‘Buginvillea’ in Genera Plantarium by A.L. de Jusseau in 1789. The genus was subsequently split in several ways until it was finally corrected to ‘Bougainvillea’ in the Index Kewensis in the 1930s. Originally, B. spectabilis and B. glabra were hardly differentiated until the mid 1980s when botanists recognized them to be totally distinct species. In early 19th century, these two species were the first to be introduced into Europe, and soon, nurseries in France and England did a thriving trade providing specimens to Australia and other faraway countries. Meanwhile, Kew Gardens distributed plants it had propagated to British colonies throughout the world. Soon thereafter, an important event in the history of bougainvillea took place with the discovery of a crimson bougainvillea in Cartagena, a Spanish port in the Mediterranean, by Mrs. R.V. Butt. Originally thought to be a distinct species, it was named B. buttiana in her honour. However, it was later discovered to be a natural hybrid of a variety of B. glabra and possibly B. peruviana – a “local pink bougainvillea” from Peru. Natural hybrids were soon found to be common occurrences all over the world. For instance, around the 1930s, when the three species were grown together, many hybrid crosses were created almost spontaneously in East Africa, India, the Canary Islands, Australia, North America, and the Philippines

Choosing A Bougainvillea: They come in many colors, types & sizes.  I’ve already done a post showing some of these options so be sure to check it out.  Colors run the gamut from white all the way to purple.  Double flowered varieties are available too.  You can get 1 with variegated foliage if you want some real pizazz in the garden.  There are ground cover & dwarf forms if you don’t want a monster plant.  And pay attention to height because some of the taller varieties don’t get as tall as others.  No lack of choices regarding choosing a bougainvillea.
Planting:  Bougs are tough as can be but are big babies when it comes to their roots.  They don’t like to have them disturbed.  You’ll have much better luck if you leave them in the grow pot when planting.  I cut the rim off & make slits in the sides & bottom of the pot.  Dig the hole twice as wide as deep & add in a good amount of loam (you don’t need this if your soil drains freely) & organic compost.  Water it in very deeply.  If you want it to grow against a wall or fence, then angle it that way.
Watering:  2 words – water deeply.  Bougainvillea likes to be watered well & have it drain out.  After established, they’re drought tolerant.  My Bougainvillea glabra didn’t get any water for 9 months last year & it’s lookin’ great.  Overwatering = no color (not to mention rot!).
Pruning / Trimming:  They need it as they’re very vigorous growers.  I give both of mine a harder pruning in mid-winter to set the shape I want them to be later on in the year.  I do this when the evenings are starting to warm a bit.  You don’t want to prune them if there’s any danger of frost on the horizon.  I do a few lighter prunings, or trimmings, after each flowering cycle during the seasons to keep them in that shape. The flowering cycles tend to run every 2 months.  Be sure to wear gloves – the majority of bougs have long thorns.  Blood has been shed!  They put out long, fleshy water shoots so be sure to prune those out – they mess up the shape.  Bougainvilleas bloom on new wood.  More pinching = more color.
Fertilizing:  I’ve never fertilized mine & they bloom just how I want them to.  There are lots of bougainvillea fertilizers on the market but the one that we recommended at the nursery was also for palms & hibiscus.  I don’t do this either but they’d probably enjoy a good dose of organic compost or worm compost every year.
- See more at: http://www.joyusgarden.com/secrets-bougainvillea/#sthash.j2ke8lNZ.dpuf

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