Bougainvillea is an incredibly beautiful plant that will add vibrancy to your garden. However, it requires a bit of effort to grow and maintain.
For the best results, choose a location with full sun exposure for at least eight hours a day. Also, make sure to give your bougainvillea enough water and fertilize it with a water-soluble plant food.
Planting
Bougainvillea is a great tropical plant for your home. It’s a fast-growing vine with spectacular paper-like bracts and flowers that range in color from purple to mauve, pink, apricot, red, yellow, and white. It’s best grown in sunny spots outdoors or in a greenhouse, conservatory, or window.
It’s easy to grow bougainvillea at home with a little patience and some know-how. First, you’ll need to choose a spot where it can get at least six hours of sun each day. You can also plant it in a container.
In addition, it’s important to keep your soil well-drained. If the area has too much moisture, it can cause root rot. To improve drainage, try adding a mix of sand, peat moss, perlite, or vermiculite to the soil before planting.
When it’s time to plant the bougainvillea, dig a hole that’s just as deep as the roots. Add a layer of compost to the bottom of the hole, and then fill in the top with a mixture of potting soil and sand or peat moss. Avoid planting the bougainvillea too deeply because this can lead to transplant shock.
To encourage new growth and blooms, fertilize regularly in spring and summer with a balanced fertilizer. Apply a liquid product every two to four weeks or slow-releasing granules once a month through the growing season.
You can also plant bougainvillea in a container for easy care, or train it as a bonsai. You’ll need a sturdy pot that can support the vine, so choose one with drainage holes in the base or elevate the pot to inch off the ground to prevent water from collecting underneath it.
A good way to propagate bougainvillea is by rooting cuttings. You can take a strip of stem or a few bracts and dip the end in a rooting hormone, then stick loosely into a mixture of one part sand to one part soil in a flat.
When the plants are established, you can pot them into bigger containers or move them to a more permanent location. Make sure they’re in a sunny location with well-draining soil.
Care
Bougainvillea is a beautiful tropical vine that can be trained to grow up trellises and pergolas, or it can simply form groundcover. Whether planted as a climber or a shrub, this plant requires regular care to stay healthy and blooming.
Bougainvilleas don’t like to be overwatered; it’s best to find a happy medium. Overwatering can weaken the plant, while too little water can lead to rot of the roots.
When planting bougainvillea, make sure to choose a well-draining soil mix that can retain moisture in the container. You can use a combination of potting soil and perlite or grit to get the right mix for growing this plant. Once established, you can water once a week during Spring and Summer, or once every 2 to 3 weeks in Winter.
Fertilize the soil around your bougainvillea with compost, a 3-inch layer of which is recommended. It is also important to keep an eye out for bugs, such as aphids and mealybugs.
If you are planning to prune your bougainvillea, make sure you wear thorn-proof gloves. Bougainvillea stems can be thorny, and if you’re not careful, a thorn could give a painful prick.
Once the weather starts to cool down, you can bring your potted bougainvillea indoors for the winter. It will need to be placed in a cooler room (with nighttime temperatures between 12o and 15oF, or 54o to 59oC) to allow it to become properly winterized. This will help to ensure it does not suffer from yellowing leaves during the winter and that it’s able to fully bloom in the spring.
When the weather gets warmer again, it is best to move your indoor bougainvillea outdoors. This will allow it to soak up some of the sun’s indirect rays and increase its chance of blooming.
Bougainvilleas are surprisingly easy to root from cuttings. This is a great way to save money and produce many new plants. You’ll need to dip the end of your cuttings in rooting hormone and stick them loosely in a flat or a small pot to preserve humidity. Then, wait until your bougainvillea’s roots begin to grow before transplanting.
Pruning
Bougainvillea are robust, fast-growing plants that can quickly engulf fences, walls, and other structures if they’re not pruned properly. They’re also notoriously hard to control, so a good pruning plan is essential.
Keep these shrubs manageable by pruning regularly and removing dead wood that accumulates in the plant’s twiggy interior. If not, bougainvilleas can become overgrown, drooping, and tangled, reducing their attractive appearance and even attracting rodents.
Unless you’re growing a very large, thorny species, pruning your bougainvillea is a fairly simple task. However, you do need to be careful because they can have very sharp thorns that can cause rashes or inflamed skin when touched. To ensure your safety, make sure you’re wearing heavy gloves, a hat, and long sleeves.
Use a pair of sturdy, clean pruning shears to perform your trimming and shaping on your bougainvillea. Before you begin, disinfect your shears by wiping them with rubbing alcohol. This will prevent spreading diseases to other sections of the plant when you use them.
Pruning is especially important on older bougainvilleas that are no longer producing new blooms. Removing one or more branches every year or two will renew their structure and encourage new growth that will produce the colorful bracts.
Tip pruning removes the end wood just after a bud node, encouraging a new branch to form at that point. This type of pruning is best done during a frost-free period from winter through early spring when the plant isn’t actively blooming.
It is also helpful to remove wilted flowers regularly as they will stimulate flower-bearing. This is often called “deadheading.”
Trimming the bougainvillea throughout the growing season can help maintain its shape, reduce twiggy growth, and eliminate any that might interfere with paths or other plants. You can trim a bougainvillea any time of the year, but save larger pruning cuts for early spring.
When you’re pruning, always wipe the shears with rubbing alcohol between cuts. You’ll also want to wash the blades with rubbing alcohol before using them again, so you don’t spread disease to other areas of the plant.
Feeding
Bougainvillea is a wonderful addition to any home garden. It thrives in a wide range of conditions, and is a favorite for hanging baskets or containers as well as natural climbers over pergolas.
If you’re planning on growing bougainvillea at home, you will want to give it a nutritious and healthy environment. This will encourage vigorous growth and flowering, allowing you to enjoy the showy blooms of this vibrant plant year-round.
Fertilize once a month during the active growing season (March through October) to encourage flowering and vigorous growth. You can use a liquid feed or a granular fertilizer. The type you choose will depend on how your soil test results indicate a need for additional nutrients.
A granular, water-soluble fertilizer should be applied with the soil wet to activate its contents. This will increase the amount of nutrient available to the plant, helping it grow taller and more robust than it would without fertilizing.
Another method is to spray the plant with a concentrated foliar spray. The spray will penetrate the leaves and carry the fertilizer deep into the soil to be absorbed by the roots. These types of fertilizers are often more economical than granular varieties, but can also burn the plant’s leaves and bracts, so be sure to apply them only when you need them.
It is a good idea to add compost to your soil mix, especially if it’s sandy or acidic. This will help you improve the health of your bougainvillea and reduce the need for supplemental fertilizers.
Once the soil has been mixed in, place your bougainvillea pot in a bright location. You can keep it outdoors or bring it indoors during the winter, exposing it to at least 5 hours of direct sunlight.
Water your bougainvillea sparingly, using the technique of watering deeply once every couple of weeks, then letting it dry before the next watering. Watering too often or letting the soil dry out can weaken the plant, making it more susceptible to disease and insect infestation.
If you live in a hot, humid climate, consider planting bougainvillea in a shaded area. This will allow the plant to absorb plenty of sun while limiting the likelihood of the leaves burning in full sun.
