Bougainvillea for the Garden
Bougainvillea make great Outdoor or Indoor plants.
The Bougainvillea makes a great plant for most gardens, by most I mean those that are situated in the warmer garden zones.
Fast growing in most cases and can be used in many situations - climbing, rambling, trailing, free-standing and makes a great Bonsai.
In the colder climates they are considered tender and usually used as either a patio plant and brought under cover in the winter or used as a house plant and maybe placed out on the patio in the Summer.
The leaves are normally green but there are variegated forms. Green and Yellow and Green and white.
They do have some thorns but not too many. These can easily be removed. Best described as a rambling climber. Some can reach a height of 30 metres and often reach 12 metres quite easily in the right conditions. The tallest is believed to be in China and has reached a height of over 100 feet and still growing. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4304429/Chinese-universitys-5-storey-bloomer-may-be-record.html
Bougainvillea are normally pest and disease free, the main issues arising from Aphids and forms of Fungal diseases.
Strangely, they do remain evergreen when supplied with amble year round rainfall and deciduous if they encounter a dry season.
The actual flowers (three flowers surrounded by bracts) on the Bougainvillea are small and most often white in colour, but it is the bracts surrounding the flower cluster that give the bright colour spectacular. The Bougainvillea bract colours can be pink, magenta, purple in shades, red in many shades, orange, white and yellow. Sometimes the bracts can be two colours as shown in the photo top left. Sometimes you can have two or more different color flowers on the same ungrafted plant.
As these plants are easily grafted it is sometimes quite difficult to establish the origin of the multi colouring.
The Bougainvillea is sometimes called the ‘paper flower’ mainly because the bracts are paper like in texture.
They make a great ‘beginner’ subject for those experimenting with Bonsai or Grafting.
When all things are considered the Bougainvillea must be worth a spot in any garden, patio or conservatory.
Here is a fairly comprehensive document in PDF format covering Bougainvillea listing many cultivars (varieties) and cultural tips.
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/OF-38.pdf
When we refer to a plants height, we mean from the growing base up.
So, with the Bougainvillea pictured below that is planted in a container on the roof - How tall is it?
