Bougainvillea
- Owner: Holly Dz
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Corresponding Blog for Podcast Episode #110
Bougainvillea are impressive with their vibrant colors, spanning growth, and versatility! Most of the time you see them vining along buildings or entry ways creating a beautiful focal point.
Botanical Name: Bougainvillea
Bougainvillea spectabilis- known to have the largest and brightest bracts with pentagonal flowers. May be called Great Bougainvillea.
Bougainvillea glabra- known for its more manageable growth and it has glossy leaves. The flowers are also more rounded. May be called Lesser Bougainvillea.
Bougainvillea peruviana- known to have smaller bracts and is slower growing
Many of the best Bougainvilleas are hybrids and mixtures of the varieties above
Just a few examples are Barbara Karst, Oo-La-La®, Burgundy Queen®, Purple Queen®, Raspberry Ice®, Golden Jackpot®, Camarillo Fiesta, Gold Rush, White Stripe, California Rush, Sundown
Commonly called the "flowering machine" because of the vibrancy and consistent color but you may also hear Paper Flower as well.
The flowers are small, white and trumpet-like surrounded by bracts. Bracts are modified leaves that clusters around a small flower usually. Another example of this would be Poinsettias.
The bracts are what contain the vibrant color of the plant spanning from shades of red, pink, orange, white, yellow or purple.
The is a woody vine known as a fast and erratic grower with thrones on the vines but it can be trained to grow in just about any form desired!
Sun Requirements:
To thrive indoors or outdoors, this plant requires direct sun. Outdoors, full sun is needed but indoors if you do not have a large, unobstructed south window, grow lights would be best to use.
If you need any guidance to understanding light, or are in need of a grow light to help increase your light, check out the links!
Water Requirement
Bougainvilleas are drought tolerant so they have medium to low water requirements. Make sure to water once the soil is mostly dried or you may see the leaves start to curl.
Extra humidity is helpful to maintain blooming through the season! Here in Wisconsin, having it outside will definitely be enough humidity but it will mostly likely need to be supplemented indoors.
Fertilizer
Any fertilizer is going to help this plant thrive through its grow season! Since the bracts and the flowers are both major features, the RHS has the best advice below:
According to the Royal Horticultural Society: "When bracts show colour, change to a high potassium feed and move plants to cooler conditions (if possible to 10°C (50°F)) with good ventilation and protection from direct sun. This encourages the bracts to mature and persist longer on the plant. Cooler conditions may cause the leaves to droop for several days so water less frequently until plant adapts
When bracts have dropped resume high nitrogen feed to encourage a second flush of bracts"
As I always say, there are LOTS of ways to fertilize plants but I would probably choose to use my Fox Farm fertilizers for this plant as well to keep it simple for myself. I currently use Fox Farm's Grow Big Liquid Fertilizer or Fox Farm's Big Bloom Liquid Fertilizer or flowering plants. I fertilize about every 2 weeks when I water my plants, starting around the end of February through October. I only fertilize once or twice in winter because the plant isn't as active!
There are MANY ways to fertilize and it is completely up to you! There are tons of products out there you can try but an overall rule of thumb for houseplants is that it is best to under-fertilize, rather than over-fertilize. Always use the recommended amount, or less, when applying your fertilizer to houseplants.
If you need help understanding fertilizer a bit more, check out Podcast Episode 103 or the Fertilizer Explains blog post.
Other Facts
All part of the Nyctaginaceae Family
They are native to South America
Hardiness zone 9-11
This is a plant does its absolute best if grown outdoors during the warmer months and brought indoors only for the cold months. MANY people grow this as only an annual and replace them in their planters every year.
If you do plant to bring it indoors in winter, the leaves and bracts will mostly drop which is normal.
To help shape your Bougainvillea, it is best to cut the back late winter, early spring. The flowers grow on new wood.
If you are growing outdoors, try to keep it out of any severe wind. Along a fence or wall can be best!
I would recommend potting in a well draining soil since these plants are drought tolerant and don't like to be sitting in water.
These are mildly poisonous to pets. The ASPCA does not list it on their website at all so based on my other research, it should not be deadly but may cause irritation if consumed. If you are interested in learning about more pet friendly plants, check out Podcast Ep#31 for more info or the corresponding blog post!
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Always written with extreme plant passion!
Love, Holly (Owner & Creator of Houseplant Homebody LLC)
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