How to Grow Bougainvillea Flowers

By Erin Marissa Russell and Matt Gibson

From the same family as four o’clocks and efflorescence tobacco plant , the beautiful bloom of bougainvillea are n’t primarily composed of the bloom itself . or else , much like the poinsettia ’s “ blooms , ” the florid ( unremarkably ) fuschia branch are made up of three bract , which are interpretation of the plant ’s regular leave of absence that change color when in blush . The flower itself is midget , tube - forge , and either clean or yellow , and we tend to see it as the shopping centre of the bombastic “ prime . ”

Although the fuchsia variety is standard and most vernacular , many dissimilar shades of bougainvillea have been develop since Admiral Louis A. de Bougainville made the plant part of the botanic record on his 1768 journeying to South America . Now these unlike varieties are available to home gardener in hue include cerise , orange , pink , imperial , white , or white-livered , as described in the section below .

Varieties of Bougainvillea

There are over 250 known varieties of bougainvillea available , let in spineless cultivars , giants , midget , and semidwarf plant types . Some of the in effect varieties uncommitted include :

Barbara Karst – A heating buff and young fuckup with undimmed carmine bract that appear blue - maroon in the subtlety .

California Gold – gold yellow bracts .

Double Pink – Needs to be deadheaded on a regular basis and garnish back . pinkish double blooms .

Jamaica White – White , green - veined leaves . Vigorous , young bloomer .

Juanita Hatten – Dark pinkish bloom , green leaf with golden markings .

Bougainvillea flowers climbing a building

Sundown – Apricot coloration , vigorous boner , heavy feeder .

Surprise – Bicolor pink and white flowers , easy bloomer .

Texas Dawn – Small pink flowers in huge clusters . Vigorous , needs regular pruning .

pink Bougainvillea with text overlay flower gardening how to grow Bougainvillea Flowers

Vickie – Green and gold variegated leaves .

Growing Conditions for Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea plants have two simple growing necessity , full Sunday and a well drain soil . Some growers even impart a minuscule crushed rock to their soil to improve drain . Though it is not a requirement , grow bougainvillea next to a wall or supply some trellis - similar aim for the plant to spring up along can go a long path towards allow your bougainvillea to arise to its full potential .

How to Plant Bougainvillea

Due to their sparse , sinewy roots , bougainvillea plants are very sensible to botch up , so extra forethought needs to be taken when planting them to invalidate disturbing their theme arrangement in any way . To make planting bougainvillea easy , you may view cut down the sides of its container with a sharp , clean duad of scissor hold or garden shear .

Alternatively , gently tap around the bound of the container to loose up the soil around the edges so that the plant easy skid out of the container when you reverse it upside down . Either fashion , do whatever it takes to avoid meet the antecedent or you could easily kill the plant . The only touching of the root organisation that should occur is to very carefully cup the roots as you move the plant into its hole , just enough to keep them in place , as any minor disturbance of the ascendent system could belt down the flora .

Once you have picked out a patch to plant your bougainvillea , you need to cut into a jam to plant it in . You will want to dig a kettle of fish that is large enough to place the flora into without damaging the roots . Allow a little bit of extra elbow room to work with and jab the muddle a little bit larger than the width of the plant life container your bougainvillea came in . The hollow does n’t need to be monumental , but just about 20 to 40 percentage larger than the container should suffice .

Once you have get the picture the whole for placement , water it well and allow the water to drain thoroughly before placing the works into its planting cakehole to avoid any happening of wet feet . You may also consider adding some phosphorus to the planting site as well , as bougainvillea responds well to high - phosphorus soil shape . Place a small amount of in high spirits - phosphorus fertiliser in the bottom of the planting site and cover it with fertilizer so that the root do n’t come in direct contact with the fertilizer . Now that the land site is prepared , it is time to relocate the plant .

If you are not able to easily get the flora to ease out of the container without disturbing the rootage , you may need to consider cutting off the bottom of the container and localise the whole flora into the planting hole with the residual of the container still attached . Then , once the plant life is where it needs to be , you’re able to carefully cut the sides of the container down and gently remove them without shake up the source organization . Just be careful not to curve into the root system while cutting down the container . To avail keep cutting into the roots , make small , forgetful cuts , break off away at the length of the container as you go to avoid open up the shears too wide and accidentally clipping some of the works ’s sensitive etymon in the process .

Once the plant is sitting in its new hole , carefully fill in soil around it until it is about midway filled . Then water the land site again and allow it to run out before filling in the ease of the golf hole with soil . Once the water supply has adequately drained , occupy in the continue space with soil and gently pack it in place with your hands .

To avail stave off crown and root putrefaction return , you want to plant your bougainvillea higher than expected so that it is just above the surround grunge . Bougainvillea plants should be slightly advance so that the crown of the plant is dumbfound up from the flat coat somewhat after it settles .

Care for Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea plants add up from areas that do n’t get much water , so they are wonted to not having excess wet . For this reason , you will want to avoid watering them every fourth dimension you irrigate your other garden flora .

If you give bougainvilleas too much body of water , they will soften , and belike lose their coloured bract in exchange for more green leafy growth . once in a while provide bougainvillea with a in high spirits - phosphate fertilizer . If the works respond with too much increment , cut back on feeding . These plant life are already quite prolific , so they wo n’t call for much help in that department .

With prolific plant , grooming is always necessary , as is the eccentric with bougainvilleas , and doing so will enhance the plant ’s blossom capabilities . As shortly as the first bract start to drop in the fountain , it is time to prune the plant life ’s redundant growth , which should result in a young set of blooms and a shortened flowering menstruum . This can be done anytime the industrial plant look as if they need a trim between the spring and the free fall , which is their extended blossoming time of year .

As bougainvillea are have it away to grow to great length , many diversity need financial backing , especially if you are desire your plants to cover fence tops , spread across walls , or decorate arbor or other objects . Training your bougainvilleas is essential to get the industrial plant to grow the elbow room you desire them to . In purchase order to train the plants , you will demand to install string or conducting wire supports on whatever surface you are training them to grow along . When link up bougainvillea vines with string or telegram , take forethought not to tie arm too tightly , as they are prone to breaking . wed branches loosely , allowing plenty of squirm elbow room as the plant proceed to produce .

Gently tuck bougainvillea arm around the supports and apply them to guide the industrial plant where you want it to go , placing them at even intervals to accomplish the trust look . If you are trail the plant to farm in a vertical direction , apply a formative conducting wire , as ramification can well tear , and plastic will be less abrasive than regular wiring or string . commend to tie branches loosely , especially when coach vertical growth .

How to Propagate Bougainvillea

Propagation of bougainvillea is n’t as simple as it is for many of the works in your garden . For good results , you ’ll need rooting hormone and a propagation suit .

start in the spring , using unclouded , sterilize shears to take film editing that are six inches long . Treat the death of your cutting with root endocrine powder , then embed them in a mixture of perlite and stain that ’s stay fresh evenly moist . If you ’re using a propagation fount , set up it to 75 degrees Fahrenheit ( 24 degree Celsius ) , and localise it in a spot that gets bright filtered light . Roots take about eight weeks to develop and may be very difficult to achieve without the rooting internal secretion and propagation showcase .

Garden Pests and Diseases of Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea is quite immune to pest and disease , as it ’s an unfussy plant that thrives even in poor soil as long as there is plenty of drainage . However , every once in a while even the hardiest flora sputter with pest or diseases . If your bougainvillea has a health problem , it ’s probable to be one of the issues list here .

Aphids : Aphids are the most vulgar pest to strike bougainvillea plants , and they ’re a problem in many garden . These tiny insect suck the juices from plant and congregate on the undersides of leave of absence , where their feeding consequence in deformed , curled , or dried-up foliage . These garden pest are so minor that you’re able to actually knock them out of their concealment places with a well placed fountain of pee from the garden hose . To go more on the offence , you’re able to also treat aphids with a homemade spray made of a liter of warm water , four or five drops of dish liquid ecstasy and a teaspoon of neem oil . Learn more in ourarticle All About Aphids , and How to Kill Them .

Caterpillars & Bougainvillea Loopers : Most gardeners are familiar with the trouble that caterpillars can induce . bougainvillea have their own type of cat , the bougainvillea inchworm , which can be brown or green and measures about an inch . These Caterpillar disappearance into the plant ’s branches and stems so well they are hard to spot , but you wo n’t have trouble visualize the damage they cause . Bougainvillea loopers munch scalloped holes in the edge of the plant ’s leaf , since they eat leaves from the exterior in . They start with the newest outgrowth , the young shoot and tender raw leaf at the tips of bougainvillea branches , before working their mode down the offset to the old ontogenesis . you may dissuade all kinds of caterpillars by sprinkling diatomaceous earth around the plants you ’d wish to protect . Learn more in our article8 Effective Ways to Get Rid of Caterpillars in the Garden .

Leafminers : The larval forms of several different moth and flies are referred to as leafminers because of the way they feed . Leafminers exhaust curl tunnels through the leaves they infest , and the insect itself will be at the last of the trail . parting of infested plants are gradually corrode by until they are completely skeletonized and will finally drop from the industrial plant . Leafminers can be fatal . Clean up the debris that tend to collect around the base of plants , as this is where leafminers tend to lay their eggs or spend their winter . Invasive sess plant can leave these insects with alternating habitats , so weed in and around the garden is another way to keep leafminers at bay . For leafminer infestations that are more hard , you may need to protect plant using row covers or treat with neem fossil oil . While neem oil wo n’t kill the insects , it does turn back their most life-sustaining process , including feeding , mating , and fly — so in the long run , the effect is the same . see more in ourarticle How to Fight Leafminer Insects .

Root Rot : Most of the consequence of root buncombe are hugger-mugger , where the symptoms first gift themselves . The solution systems of infected flora tend to be discolor to dark shades of brown instead of having the pale hue of intelligent stem . Roots may also be soft or vile . By the time the flora above priming begins to show signs of this underground wrong , the consequence are potential to be severe . head off dealing with base rot in your garden by being measured to provide plant with proper drainage and only give them sufficient water so they do n’t have excess moisture pool around their root . cover root decompose by addressing the supererogatory moisture and cutting away insalubrious roots with garden shears . When the source arrangement is really water - soaked , you could lay the plant out with its roots exposed to the sunshine to reserve it to dry out before putting it back into the ground . Learn more in ourarticle How to Fight Stem and Root Rot .

shell : For gardeners unfamiliar with scale insects , it can be knockout to distinguish these glitch , as they appear more like bumps or gnarls on a branch than like a living louse . You ’re more likely to see the signs of a scale trouble , which include sere leaf , black fungus on leaves or branches , sticky muggins on flora control surface , and a general coming into court of sick health . If you’re able to pick out the tiny insects with shells on your plants , scrape them off with a twig or garden shaft , and they should come off easily . Quarantine your infested plants , as scale insects will carry on to fan out through your garden if you do n’t . you’re able to process for scale with insecticidal soap or horticultural crude as well as predator dirt ball like Chilocorus nigritus or Lindorus lophanthae . take more in ourarticle How to Fight Scale Insects .

Snails & Slugs : Almost every gardener will experience the legal injury that slugs and snails can make at some point . Their terms can be severalize from what cat can do by the silvery trails escargot and slugs leave behind . you may employ diatomaceous earth as a line of defense around vulnerable plants just as you would to prevent caterpillar damage , or learn how to make an electrified barrier against these plague in ourarticle How to Protect Seedlings from Slugs and Snails .

Spider Mites : lilliputian spider mites course on plant juice just like aphid , but unlike aphid , they release a toxin that leaves snowy spots on industrial plant foliage along with telltale webbing . The easiest elbow room to get rid of spider mites is with several rounds of high - insistence water from the garden hosiery , but you ’ll need to keep at it to defeat an plague . parasitical mites or ladybugs can also be used to stamp out an intrusion , or you’re able to treat with a homemade spray of a liter of lovesome water , four or five drops of dish soap , and a teaspoonful of neem crude oil . Learn more in ourarticle How to Fight Spider Mites .

Thrips : Do n’t panic just because you ’ve descry thrips in your garden , as many varieties are beneficial and wo n’t harm your plants . It ’s when thrip appear alongside works damage like wilted , decolor - look , or streaky foliage , the frass that thrips leave behind when they feed , or stripe - forge areas of discoloration that you have a trouble . spray susceptible plants with insecticidal soap or set a camphor tab or toilet deodorizer occasionally in your garden can keep thrips at bay . Learn more in ourarticle How to Fight Thrips .

Whiteflies : The first matter many gardener who experience a whitefly infestation card is the sticky clear “ honeydew ” that whitefly allow for all over the works they infest . This heart also tends to attract ant . Whiteflies also leave foliation blot with white spots and congregate on the bottom of folio . If touch , they ’ll take to the air . Yellow sticky trap and predators like ladybugs or lacewing larvae can be used against whiteflies . First , you should blast off any of the insects you’re able to deter with a targeted jet of water from the garden hose . get wind more in ourarticle How to campaign Whiteflies .

Whether your locality is already draped with bougainvillea or your plant will be the first on the cube , you ’re tie up to get lots of delight out of this stunning tropic flower . In some climates , bougainvillea prime through the winter , making it a perfect counterpoison to the cold - weather blues . In gardens where you could enjoy bougainvillea year - round and those where it ’s a seasonal pleasure , gardeners agree that this quick - growing peak is a worthwhile addition .