Bougainvillea Forum, Anyone?

I don't know how to drum up an interest for a new forum, but it seems as though Bougainvilleas are being neglected!
I have found references to them as climbers (growing naturally) and as bonsai, so it would seem that they cross into many other categories. I have owned many, and have always managed to kill them when I over-winter, so I sure could use help in maintaining them as a house plant in zone 6!
Also, Mandevillias (sp?) don't have a forum of their own; I know very little about them, except I want some!
How do we "poll" for interest in a new forum?
-Melissa

This is the right way to ask about interest, if you want to propose one for mandevillas too I'd start a separate thread for that (unless you want them in the same forum as the bougies, but I don't think that would really make sense since they're not even remotely related and their care is different). The admins typically watch the thread for a while to see if they think there'll be sustained interest--the last thing you want to do is make a new forum and then it doesn't get very much activity.

I'll be honest that I'm not sure how much of a chance you have on these two--the passiflora people just got a new forum after a long period of assessing whether it was a good idea or not, and if you had gone to the vines & climbers forum prior to that, you would have seen that practically every other post in there was about passies. I haven't seen nearly that number of threads on bougies and mandies, so I think you'll have a tougher time demonstrating the sustained interest necessary to get a new forum. No harm in trying though, there may be a lot of people out there who are interested and just never knew where to post!

I don't mean to sound flippant, but why would it be a bad thing if the forum got no traffic, and just provided basic growing info, photos, and links to suppliers? I think if a plant is available commercially, there should be a place where someone can post questions about it's care. If I bought a Bougainvellia from a local greenhouse (which I've done!), and know nothing about it's care, (as we know, retailers don't always provide a lot of good care info.) I can "google" it, but wouldn't it be nice to have the resorce already on Dave's? As it is, I would have to know that it is a climber, a tropical, or etc. to ask a question to a forum! I do have questions about Mandevillas, but I don't know where to ask them!

I'm not griping, I'm just suggesting that the forums are arranged backwards: there has to be interest in a plant to start a forum, but how can interest be generated if there is no information to get one "hooked"? (i. e., I had no idea of all the Sanseviera cultivars available until I read about them on the C&S forum.)

Plant Files has pictures, info on care, and links to sources (in many cases at least when vendors have listed themselves in Plant Scout). It's there to provide concrete info like that, then the purpose of the forums is to create a community and allow discussion, if you don't have any discussion then it defeats the purpose of having a forum.

When there are things like Mandevillas that are both vines and tropicals, you can post either place and get perfectly good answers. The majority of plants are going to have at least one or two different forums where it's appropriate to discuss them, that's just the way things work unless we go to having individual forums for every plant genus. Or if you have a plant that you don't know enough to know whether it's a vine or a shrub or a tropical or whatever, you can always post in one of the beginner gardening forums. Even if you're not a beginner, those are good places to start with, then if there's a forum that's more appropriate someone will point you in the right direction.

Well, my dearest departed GM introduced me to Bouganvillas when I was a child. She too lived in a Zone way too cold to grow them outside.
She had a south facing paned glass exterior door with glass side panes from the waist up. Her Bougy was planted in a 2 gallon pedistal pot on one side of the door. It grew up one side and across the top of the door and down the otherside. It bloomed several times a year.
She watered it when it got dry and not before.
When it bloomed she would lightly ferilize it.
good luck.
Sidney

People up here (Mass.) don't know what to do with bouganvilleas when they (rarely) find them for sale at the greenhouses. I've scooped all of mine for less than $6 b/c they were on the discount table! I scored two of the most beautiful lavendar cultivars last week; I plant to hang them side-by-side in a window and train them downward. I have another HUGE red one; it has been trained as a container shrub, so a container shrub it shall remain.

I was going to ask if one can root the many cuttings you have to take (they get out of control quickly!) BUT, I can try it myself and answer my own question!

I live in south Texas where we grow bougainvilleas and mandevillas all the time...............i am busy through the first week of November but would be happy to root some for you or to get you some at the nurseries................whatever you would like................

I plan on taking cuttings to root of the couple of Bougie's that I have. I've been planning on doing it for weeks and it's still on my list! I plan on using rooting hormone in hopes that it helps. There are quite a few Bougie's in Plant Files and I love them all!

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=bougainvillea&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search

You are too sweet! Thank you for the offer. I have received the best plants through friends I've met on Dave's. I would love cuttings, but I'm afraid that they'll die over-wintering. I killed a gorgeous one last year, and I'm praying I don't kill the 3 new ones I bought. They are flowering now, but they've been outdoors all summer. I'll bet I can kill a Mandevilla, too. I think it's b/c my house is too dry (forced hot air heat).
I've seen that Logee's (both mail-order and retail greenhouse up here) has a staggering amount of Bougainvilleas. Check them out- www.logees.com. Enough to make you drool! I want one of each color!!! BUT maybe I should wait until spring.
Thanks again!!!
-Melissa

You are welcome!!!!!!!! We just leave ours outside all winter...........they come back at the base each year............

I have a Bougie that I bring indoors about this time of year to a large south facing window. It's bloom turns from red to pink as the winter progresses. Mine is a rather thirsty plant and will get wilted leaves quickly indoors without regular watering. Also it may pick up something like mealy bugs about March so it needs misting with rubbing alcohl/water then.

I'm impressed! 5b!!!
The instructions on how to grow the bougies indoors actually say to let them get to the point of wilting so they'll bloom. That kind of scares me.
I wonder where the mealy bugs come from if it's been indoors? I always change my potting soil b/f bringing them in for the winter for that very reason.

When it goes outdoors, the bug problem goes away so I assume something else inside sometimes harbors them....??

Total sunshine causes them to bloom a lot outdoors

They will fill a south window with many burst of color too indoors.
;)

I've never been quite sure where mealy bugs come from--I get them on houseplants from time to time but I have never, ever seen them on one of my outdoor plants.

i grew a couple indoors last year and they bloomed in jan....this year i was having problems with one blooming....i researched and the site i researched did concur that bougies bloom when stressed....that means less water....i did that and it finally bloomed....

I've heard mixed info on getting them to bloom--I had always heard they needed to be kept on the dry side and not fertilized or else they'd be all leaves and no blooms, but this past summer we had a couple discussions and other people watered theirs plenty and fertilized them and they still bloomed. (this was all outdoors during the summer)

Out here, if there are no blooms, hold back water until leaves look wilted (if possible - rain tends to screw up the plan!). Then once they are blooming, water regularly...keeps them blooming for a long time.

They seem to love being root bound...............


Although people have them in the ground everywhere here and they get 15 feet high...........
I keep mine in giant clay pots, feed them with bougainvillea food and water regularly.........all they need is sun sun sun. Our stay in bloom almost 10 months out of the year.............
The ones I have in hanging baskets really don't do as well.............they don't get as much full sun.