...along with sun and surf I'll never forget my first trip to Hawaii 25 years ago when I first saw Bougainvillea growing everywhere like weeds. It changed my life!
Bougainvillea says Hawaii to me.....
Have had at least one in every garden since then.
Beautiful!
I remember...hanging from every balcony. Have been there twice. Just like Paradise.
I think you have created 'Hawaii' in your back yard! Bougainvilleas are lovely, and yours is outstanding!
Candy, I'm nursing along Bougainvillea 'Mardi Gras' which was recently purchased as a small plant. Do they need anything special, other than sun and watering sparingly?
Jean
That's it...I'm packing my bags and will set up a tent somewhere in that Jungle!! Nobody has plants that look that good except greenhouses at the beginning of the season! :b
Candy, what variety is that? I love the 2 tone look of it.
Jean, all bougainvilleas need to either have their roots pruned or restricted to bloom. If they get to have free roam they'll just get huge with no gorgeous blooms. At least thats what I was taught, is that right Candy?
I'm thinking of getting a bougainvillea to use as attractive 'barbed wire' along the top of a fence. I'm in a cold war with the squirrels . . .
Do ya'll think that would work?
Cheri'
I have mine as a patio tree-bush type It's Raspberry Ice, I think. I thought it was gone after the winter, but I pruned it and this Spring it took off.Very nice plant, will over winter with lights and can handle outside to at least 8b. After 2 years and woody growth is gotten, even colder(in the ground).
Look at the differently-colored part in the middle. Monterey, that's pretty!
Do you mean the flower? That's the little light colored part.
Duh! (slapping myself in the head). I like the contrast though. Nice colors!
I just went to your site very very cool. Great sense of humor. I worry because where I am there is not enough humidity for the plants.
Monterey, I'll send you a BIG box of humidity from here. I just told someone else that all summer, the humidity level is at least 95%. Then there is the brief afternoon thundershower and the ensueing "steamy-jungle" atmosphere. Sometimes, I feel as if I am trying to breathe through a wet blanket. :D
Step outside, and my hair immediately frizzes. I don't even bother any more, because no matter how I style my hair, I'm gonna look like I stuck my finger in a light socket. LOL.
They are pretty aren't they?! Thanks to all of you.
This is a scanned snapshot from 1983 of one of my favorite Bougainvillea. Conditions were just right and I think that's about a year's growth. To the right of the image is a 6' fence to give you an idea of the size of the plant.
I'm not a Bougainvillea expert by any means and they can be tempermental. A few things I have learned/practiced in my experiences with them:
Be very careful when planting them. They do NOT like their roots disturbed and being too rough when unpotting or planting them can doom them from the start.
Find the place you want to try it and don't be tempted to move them around (again, they don't like their roots disturbed). It can sometimes take a couple of years to get them established and then once they are settled in they pretty much take care of themselves.
All the experts say to plant them in full sun, but I have the one in my current garden growing in dappled shade all day because I wanted it to climb up among the palm trees. It also needs protection from our strong winds and is doing just what I wanted it to do, but would certainly be more robust and bloom more profusely if it was in a sheltered space against a south facing wall. (I just don't happen to have that situation in this garden.)
Mine is watered just like everything else and as long as the soil is well drained, I've never had a problem with too much water. It is also given the same feeding regimen as the rest of the garden: commercially packaged manure a couple times a year spread throughout the garden, top dressed with cocoa hulls. When I am watering/feeding the potted plants and the Staghorn Ferns http://plantsdatabase.com/showpicture/23882/ I sometimes give it a bucket of fish emulsion if I remember. It is in the ground here in 9b and there is sometimes a little die back at the tips of branches, but that is probably from being beaten about in the wind in the winter.
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Lilypon - the lattice covered patio would work for you I think! It has its own chiminea, a swing, lots of plants and easy access to the rest of the garden. Just let me know. :-)
a- n-g - don't know what it is, came untagged. The bracts are orange when forming and turn pink and pinker as they open and age.
sundry - I don't see why it wouldn't.....but I've never gardened in LA so I'm not sure. Are you talking about tree squirrels or ground squirrels? Not that it matters, I have nothing but disdain for these rats in disguise. I'm an animal lover by nature, but draw the line when it comes to ground squirrels and pocket gophers. They are rodents and rodents are NOT a good thing.
monterey - We lived in Citrus Heights years and years ago, while we waited for our house on the American River to be built. The climate is very similar to the climate here in Clayton. You can certainly grow Bougainvillea and many of the same things I do!
Rub it in ... put salt on the wound!! I've just come in from pulling all my plants into a warm enclosure ... -2C :b Your spot sounds wonderful Happenstance and if, and when, I have my way I'll be heading from the Pacific to the Atlantic and your lattice covered patio will have an occupant! ;) p.s. you're safe for a couple of years!
Happenstance, these are tree squirrels. They provoke my dog by running back and forth along this fence, chattering and taunting him. Of course, being a dog, he goes after them . . . right thru my garden. When I see this, I lock him in the house and the squirrels have easy access to the bird feeder and free run of the yard . . . I'm being manipulated by rodents! grrrrrr
He's broken 5 lilies this spring as a result of these dang squirrels. I'm a live-and-let-live kinda person, but this is ridiculous . . .
I'm thinking a couple of bouganvillia in baskets attached to the fence might make that tactic uncomfortable for them, and not look like warfare tactics. I could bring them to the patio for winter, where they would be protected from the north, and warmed by the dryer vent. It's plenty hot and humid here and cold winters are rare.
Cheri'
Happenstance, to me it will always evolk memories of living in San Diego....as it grows there like a weed too.
I had a purple and lilac color growing over our patio roof, and a white one growing up our chimeney.
Amazing plant....sure wish I could grow it here in Seattle :-(