I am planting only tropicals this year and am in love with the beautiful colors of Bougainvillea. I know they could never survive in the ground over winter, but wonder if I could overwinter them under my house in pots? I tried it this winter with Mandevilla and Fushia on the advice of a dg friend and it worked great. they both were burned by frost accidently so I cut them all the way back in their pots, put them in a dirt basement, watered on Jan. 1st and again on Feb. 1st and they both have losts of new growth. If anyone knows if this would work with Bougainvillea please let me know. I have recieved so much reliable info from this forum and have ordered some palm trees to try. I also planted my Bay Laurel in the ground last fall on the advice of a guy from New Zealand, and it is hail and hardy after a winter with some temps. in the teens. Thanks in advance, Mick
bougainvillea
Do you know anything about the temps that it gets down to underneath the house? If you are able to keep them somewhere that temps won't get below the 20's then they'll probably be OK (I'm not sure exactly where in the 20's the cutoff would be, mine survive high 20's regularly, this winter we had some low 20's but it's too early to say whether they're going to come back from that or not). You mention having temps in the teens this winter--if all your winters are like that then being under the house may give you that 5-10 degree temperature boost which is enough to save plants like this, but I used to live in your zone and I know it can get colder than that, so if you have a winter where your temps are getting into the single digits or less, I'm not sure under the house will be warm enough.
Mick-I think that if you kept them in that sunny room you have over the winter, they would do fine.
It really hasn't gotten been below ten degrees far. for more than a day or two for years now. Maybe the sunny spare room with the heat vent closed off would be safest. I'll try . I never see them for sale around here, but i bet I could find them in St. Simon , Ga. I read somewhere that the paler the color the less hardy the variety. anyone know if this is valid?
Yes, if you have an indoor spot where you can keep them your odds are much better than if you keep it under the house. I don't know if that's true about paler colors being less hardy, but even if it's true it's not going to be enough of a difference to help you if you're keeping them under the house and have a cold snap. And as far as finding them for sale...I bet you will find them at local nurseries or Home Depot/Lowes in the summer. I had some one year when I lived in Cincinnati and I didn't know about mail order gardening yet so I know I got them locally.
We cut them back hard anyway in zone 9 as they only bloom from new foliage anyway......as long as it can be kept alive, I think your chances are better inside than out....just an opinion
O.K., It's unanimous, in the house. I hope I can find them around here. I looked last year, but my time frame might have been wrong. Maybe looked too late in the season. Thanks to all for the help. I am going to have the gaudiest garden in Maryville Tn., where everyone has flowers and trees but they are all the same.
We are all busy right now in zone 9, but if you remind me later on in the late spring,they will have new ones in every single nursery down here and i would be happy to send you package.
Logees sells a number of varieties if you want to go the mail order route--they're in teeny 2.5" or 4" pots, but they'll grow!
littlemick, I overwintered mine inside before I got a greenhouse. It will do just fine. Do not be surprised or concerned if it defoliates once brought inside. Mine defoliated completely. It will come back.
summered (year of purchase) ....on a south facing deck in a 12 inch pot. Before frost (October) placed them indoors in a south facing room with plenty of sunlight and 60-70 temperatures and decreased watering..they defoliated (50% ). January....Increased watering slightly with some fish emulsion produced new foilage. February..... decrease in humidity and watering ........defoliating by 50%. march both now have new leaf buds.
I think they should do great here per advice. I am excited about trying a couple this year. I will see if I can find any at Lowe's in St. Mary Ga. when I go there next month. I love the brillant colors. Lists of favorites would be appreciated.
I had purchased a large one at the end of the season from Lowe's for $3, thinking "what did I have to lose?". I kept it in it's original pot and put it in my "unheated" sunroom the entire winter and it hasn't stopped blooming. It is a shrimpy color - doesn't have any leaves, but the blooms make up for that.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=3183134
One question for n2birds, How often did you water it on average? Tsuga's advice on maintenance sounds on the money.
I have watered once a week, but I always water my inside plants with epson salt water. I don't know if that is good or bad - but has proven to be ok with everything I have so far. I probably do need to fertilize mine better now and see what may happen. I could actually put outside now, with our temps being so mild.
I have a small one in a hanging basket out in my back yard .... the thing's been neglected and stayed out over winter .... I know, I live in Florida, but we did had a couple of cold nights where it was down in the low 30's and a bit of frost one night! The thing lost all it's leaves, but is now sprouting a few little ones and is beginning to bloom too. I am not particularly fond of owning these things. They are Beautiful plants when in Flower! But get horrendous thorns! We had one years ago that was in a hanging basket, not very large. It got left sitting on the ground by a steel light pole near the driveway that goes around to the back of our house. Must have loved that location, the plastic pot cracked and disinegrated and that plant took root right where it was .... grew up and around the pole, attached itself to the eaves of the roof and grew along the roof. Dark pink/fuschia blooms .... really gorgeous! Well .... one day we were having quite a bit of wind and heard the loudest crash and glass breaking! The steel light pole had rusted through at the bottom and came crashing down, plant and all. The Bougie plant had quite a thick trunk on it, and broke about half way up. The thorns on that thing were unbelievable .... had my husband chain saw it up, dig up the root ball and pitch it in the trash. I can't believe I had him throw it away, but I did! I don't like thorny plants and man do Bougie's get long, dangerous thorns as they grow up! The little sad looking one I have now was a gift last year, so I had to accept it. I ought to pack it up and send it to you Mick! If you want it, just D-Mail me .... I will be mailing out some trades next Monday and could ship it then. Just let me know.
By the way ... I just noticed you live in Maryville, Tennessee .... My husband and I love The Smokies! We try to fly into Knoxville and vacation in those beautiful mountains! We talked his oldest brother and wife into meeting us there in May. They live in upstate N.Y. and have a small motor home, they won't fly. So, we get to show them all that beautiful scenery. We've seen a lot of changes in Gatlinburg and vicinity the past 20 or more years. Not nice changes ... very commercialized and touristy. We live in a tourist town, so like to get away from all that if we can! We try and visit before it gets real busy in the summer time! We do stay in Pigeon Forge, to be near The Old Mill .... our favorite restaurant! Well, one of our favorites! We love Bennett's BBQ too! And, the Apple Barn! Gee ... sounds like all we do is eat, but that's not true. We don't spend a lot of time in town, we like driving around and viewing the beauty of the mountains, visiting Cades Cove, driving through Wares Valley!
Well, didn't mean to get off topic here! Just couldn't resist when I saw where you were from!
Lin
Increased amount of daylight (still in the sun room) and watering once per week, every other week with fish emulsion. Have increased the amount of water from approximately 1 cup to 1 pint. (the heating system does not have a humidfier). All the stems have tiny new leaves, thus no bare stems. One plant has one new green stem approximately 12" in length. the thorns are small (purchased last summer at Lowe's or Walmart),the varigated foilage is a nice accent on my deck, will be a rewarding to see them in bloom. I do not fear the bougs will become audrey 2's due to KY climate.........but with global warming......!?!?!?!?!?
You probably don't need to fertilize it that often--bougies will flower better if you keep them on the dry side and don't fertilize much. Since fish emulsion doesn't have too high of a level of nutrients it may be OK, but if you want to save yourself some time and money I doubt if it needs it every other week.
I grow a few bougainvillea and just love all the new colors available. My favorite pink is Carmen which has deep, deep carmen colored bracts and has many deep pink flowers also among some white.
I find the more I fertilize to keep them in good growth I get almost continuous flowers. When I can see the end in sight of a flush, I fertilize. I also foliar feed frequently all summer.
Edited to say this one is really Bougainvillea 'Barbara Karst.' Carmen is deeper and prettier and more compact in growth.
This message was edited Mar 16, 2007 3:21 PM
I need to see if this one made thru the winter. None of mine have leafed out and we had 2 weeks of real unusual cold here.
A true beauty, Bougainvillea 'Jamaica White'
I do not have this one yet but if I see it as a standard I will grab it. I am not sure it is compact enough though. But I just loved it.
Bougainvillea 'Pink Pearl'
Oops, that first one is not Carmen. I will have to see if I have that one tagged. This one is Carmen.
This is one I have had for 2 years. I was transplanting it to a bigger pot last year and when my husband lifted it out of the new pot so I could add more dirt to get it higher, half the roots broke off. He had grabbed it by the trunk and yanked with no support to the heavy roots. I was sure it would die but it didn't skip a beat. It is a profuse bloomer. I got so much enjoyment from this one last year.
It is a much lighter pink than Barbara Karst.
Bougainvillea 'Rosea'
Pretty pictures! That's interesting about the fertilizer--I've always heard not to fertilize them, and I have never fertilized mine and they bloom just great. Guess they're just not very picky!
Nice pictures Kell
My standard Barbara Karst was out of control last year
and had to butcher it to get it in the GH
it sat in the GH looking dead most of the winter
Its all of a sudden taking off and I think chopping
it back was the best thing I could have done for it
Wonder if I should fertilize it????
Mick, there are so many more I could add to my list of favorites. Though I guess you need to see what is available to you to get more meaningful reccomendations.
I do not know Liz, it is just something I picked up over the years that gave me good results.
Thanks CC. I would fertilize, CC. I think they like to be pruned too. I have to keep mine small for they are standards and live in 15 gallon pots.
Maybe it's pots vs in the ground that makes the difference for fertilizer? I always grow mine in the ground and I never fertilize and they do just fine, but it sounds like you're growing them in pots and in pots the nutrients that are around are going to get washed out as you water them, so maybe then they do need fertilizer to be happy in containers. Or maybe they just don't care either way!
Oops, I feel bad, I forgot to thank Bettygail for her very kind offer. I'll take you up on that if I can't find any for sale around here or in Georgia. Thanks.
That could be Liz. I notice if I keep fertilizing to get the new growth that flowers, I keep in them continuous flowers all season into winter. You can not beat them for a wall of color. I see some already in flower around here but mine do not even have leaves. My huge one in the back that is in the ground has leaves only in the inside, so much dead stuff all around the outside. It towers it is so huge. 30 years old.
You will have to let us know which one you get, Mick. I hope you have a big choice! So many neat ones it is almost impossible to just pick one.