The bougainvillea is a tropical plant whose eye-catching, brilliant flowers positively glow. Blooming plants are often available in late summer and fall from nurseries. They are generally sold in hanging baskets as trailing vines.
The brightly colored parts are actually modified leaves called bracts. The true flowers are small and white. There are many, many different types of bougainvilleas on the market. The color of the bracts may be shades of red, magenta, orange, gold, pink and white. Named varieties can vary tremendously in how reliably and how often they bloom, how vigorously they grow and whether they grow more vinelike or bushy.
Taking care of bougainvilleas is not difficult. They are tough and resilient plants. The most common problem people seem to have is getting them to bloom. They generally don’t bloom continually, but well-established bougainvilleas can produce two or three beautiful displays of flowers from spring to fall. Bougainvilleas bloom best when they receive direct sun most of the day.
In the ground
Laurel Adams and Vickie Jardine look at sun-loving bougainvilleas at the Full Moon Gardens plant sale booth this past summer.
In the south shore New Orleans area and milder areas of the state (hardiness zone 9b), bougainvilleas are sometimes planted in the ground in a protected location that gets sun all or most of the day. They are often planted near a fence and provided support to train the vinelike growth. Plant them in spring or early summer.
Make sure they have plenty of room. When planted in the ground, they eventually make huge, spectacular plants that produce amazing displays of flowers. As long as winters are mild, the plants will thrive and bloom on and off through the summer into the fall each year — once they are older and well established. Established plants rarely need irrigation in our climate.
Bougainvilleas planted in the ground initially grow rampantly and are reluctant to bloom. You must be prepared to manage and train the explosive, thorny growth they are capable of producing. Few, if any, flowers will be produced until the plant gets settled into its new location and growth slows somewhat — generally a couple of years (sometimes more) after it is planted in the ground.
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The lack of flowers is not a nutritional problem. Indeed, fertilization and irrigation will likely delay flowers. These plants tend to bloom better when neglected. If you are patient, however, as the years go by (and if the winters are mild), you will eventually have a large plant that blooms prolifically several times a year.
As beautiful as they can grow to be, though, bougainvilleas planted in the ground have an issue with freezes. Cold damage will occur to these tropical plants when temperatures hit the mid to low 20s, and they are severely damaged by temperatures in the teens. Flowering will be greatly reduced for a year or two if the plants get frozen back severely.
In pots
Where hardiness is an issue or when a large plant is not desired, container culture generally gives the best results. You don’t need to use any special type of soil mix. Any good potting soil is fine as long as it drains well.
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Fertilize bougainvilleas regularly during the summer with a soluble fertilizer. Or slow-release fertilizer may be applied to the soil surface in March and August. Should your container-grown bougainvillea begin to grow rampantly, producing large, dark-green leaves, you have probably fertilized your plant too generously. If that happens, stop fertilizing.
You should grow bougainvilleas in relatively small containers. Don’t be in a big hurry to repot them when they look like they have outgrown the pot they are in. Restricting the root system to some extent will not hurt as long as they are well watered and fertilized, and being pot-bound encourages flowering. Eventually, you will have to repot the plant in a larger container. When you do, the new container should be no more than 2 to 4 inches larger than the original one.
Like all plants, bougainvilleas need adequate moisture for proper growth. But they are drought tolerant. Allowing them to dry slightly between waterings is recommended.
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If your plants seem reluctant to bloom, however, growing them a little more on the dry side will help encourage flowers. This is a little tricky, but the technique involves letting the plant wilt somewhat between waterings. If you let the plant dry out too long, though, you will damage it.
As soon as flower buds appear, generally after about three or four weeks of doing this, you should resume normal watering. If you let a blooming bougainvillea wilt severely, it will drop its flowers and colorful bracts.
Pruning
Bougainvilleas growing in the ground need more pruning than those in pots. Bougainvilleas may be kept bushy, allowed to sprawl and trail or trained on a support, whatever your taste or situation dictates.
Since bougainvilleas bloom on new growth, feel free to cut vigorous, leafy shoots back occasionally to keep them under control and encourage branching. An ideal time to cut back bougainvilleas is right after they finish a bloom period.
I have a hydrangea and would like to know how to make it bloom blue flowers. — Kathy Newman, Gretna
It’s better to prune a bougainvillea occasionally as needed to train and control it. If you allow a plant in the ground to become way overgrown and have to cut it back severely, it will take a longer time to come back into bloom (similar to what happens when the plants get frozen back during severe cold).
Should winter freezes damage the plants, wait until spring to prune. At that time, you can see where the vine is sprouting and still alive and then prune off the dead portions that are not sprouting. Covering a plant as needed during winter can help reduce damage.
With careful attention to the cultural guidelines presented here and patience, your bougainvilleas should reward you with the brilliant flowers for which these plants are so well known.
