Bougainvillea - Page 2

ljp · February 25, 2012

I've had a bougainvilea growing indoors for several years. It started in a 3 inch pot and grew to about 15 feet. I draped it over our kitchen windows. In the beginning I was told to let it dry out between waterings to get it to bloom. It has bloomed at least once a year, usually January to March which seemed strange but nice.

Lately, the plant hasn't been doing well. It could be being in the same dirt for a decade or lack of fertilizer. However, the one time I fertilized it, it died back. I did prune off all the dead branches and some live ones. Most of the vines I left promptly lost their leaves. Today, I noticed new growth along the oldest vine. I've never managed to root a cutting.

I was going to toss it, then I saw a short plant shaped to a tree for $300. Does any one have advice for keeping this plant healthy, not just alive?

Worth1 · February 25, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wi-sunflower

Wow, I've never seen any so FULL of flowers as that.

Carol

I think it is because of the pruning and new growth.
The more new growth the more colored bracts.

Worth

kurt · February 25, 2012

One of the main reasons they are grown in Europe thay make excellent burglar defenses.You see them a lot on large villas in Italy,and I used them as a fence cover,not even the squirrels will climb in them.The thorns are tenacious.You can almost train them anyway you want and they make lovely arbors..Just have to wear welding gloves to trim them.The leaf turns into a flower bur they are messy since they shed alot.Down here in Florida they bloom all year long.Just do not let them get out of hand.

Sun City Linda · February 25, 2012

Worth, the trick seems to be to get some wood on them. Cover/protect them from frost first couple years in the ground. Dont know what zone you are in, 8-9? I keep killing the young ones here by forgetting to cover them but I have seen them take off by where I live and once they do, you would have a hard time killing them. Big thorns BTW.

Worth1 · February 25, 2012

Love it going to Bloomers in Elgin right now to see what they have.

They have all sorts of colors as opposed to HD and Lowes.
Besides they are local.

Worth

Worth1 · February 25, 2012

I'm back from bloomers and they didn't have any in yet.
Home depot does but it is a little early yet..
So the feed my addiction I purchased a violet colored Prickly Pear cactus.
I have been wanting one of these for a while.
We have the wild common Texas Prickly Pear but not this one.

Opuntia Violacea Santa Rita.
The more it is neglected the better the color gets.

Attachment 22430

matereater · February 26, 2012

worth, cactus looks awesome, never seen one that color before.

Tracydr · February 26, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Worth1

I have read everything form keep them moist to they are a good choice for Xeriscaping.
What gives?????????

I am only planting mostly things that dont need a lot of care.
I dont want to plant something I have to keep moist all of the time.

Anybody out there have any experience with these plants.

Worth

I never water mine, they get a bit when I spray the porch off.
They are freeze sensitive, down around 25 degrees they die back. But, I'm not sure you can kill them. I have one in a place where it needs to get moved and I can't seem to kill it.
Ideal xeriscape plant, needs full sun, loves the heat. Does seem to flower more after we have a nice rain but they flower all year here.

Tracydr · February 28, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Worth1

I think it is because of the pruning and new growth.
The more new growth the more colored bracts.

Worth

Yes, I've noticed if I prune mine, it gets a lot more color, despite being in mostly shade.

Tracydr · February 28, 2012

Worth, if you can grow bougainvillea there, can you grow tropical hibiscus? That's another lovely plant that I've found relatively drought tolerant ( surprisingly!) and easy to take care of. Tolerates very hot weather, full sun to part-shade.
Also, in full sun, lavender and rosemary are the best desert plants!
Also, pomegranates, which come in lovely dwarf varieties, if you don't want fruiting.
I'm getting ready to add a bunch of hibiscus around my pool. They're one of my favorite flower. I'll mix them with lemon grass, which is a beautiful, well behaved bunch grass that doesn't gett all the dead stuff like pampas grass and doesn't need full sun. I'll also plant some various lilies which I got from our local plant club sale.
I'm terrible with landscape type plants. This is just what I've learned since I've been in AZ. If I can't kill them, they probably are hard to kill.
My artichoke plant has been looking quite nice and is an interesting landscape plant but I haven't seen how it survives the summers here yet. If you'd like a thistle type plant, that might be something to start in the fall. Needs some water but has a huge tap root so I don't water it much.

ddsack · February 28, 2012

Beautiful on the wall, Worth! I covet all the many colors I see during our annual snowbirding months in Mexico. I did manage to find a fuchia color to grow as a houseplant in a large pot, and it's doing pretty well. It does sometimes lose all of it's leaves, either when I put it out in the spring into real sunshine, or when I bring it back inside in the fall into a dry house. But after some weeks of looking like a naked stick it grows them all back. Inside, I grow it next to an east facing patio door. The only benefit to it losing all the leaves, is that some years I get aphids on it outside, and one winter when it did not shed it's leaves, I struggled to get rid of aphids all winter. This fall it did not shed, (and luckily no aphids!) but had grown one extra long branch that had to fit into a darker corner, and all the leaves on that branch fell off due to lack of light. I'll leave it alone and see if they grow back when I bring it outside again. The few times I have pruned what I thought looked like thin dead branchlets, there still was green in the center of the sticks.

Tracydr · February 28, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddsack

Beautiful on the wall, Worth! I covet all the many colors I see during our annual snowbirding months in Mexico. I did manage to find a fuchia color to grow as a houseplant in a large pot, and it's doing pretty well. It does sometimes lose all of it's leaves, either when I put it out in the spring into real sunshine, or when I bring it back inside in the fall into a dry house. But after some weeks of looking like a naked stick it grows them all back. Inside, I grow it next to an east facing patio door. The only benefit to it losing all the leaves, is that some years I get aphids on it outside, and one winter when it did not shed it's leaves, I struggled to get rid of aphids all winter. This fall it did not shed, (and luckily no aphids!) but had grown one extra long branch that had to fit into a darker corner, and all the leaves on that branch fell off due to lack of light. I'll leave it alone and see if they grow back when I bring it outside again. The few times I have pruned what I thought looked like thin dead branchlets, there still was green in the center of the sticks.

You could probably prune the plant all the way down to the ground before taking indoors. We've done that after a hard freeze and they come back prettier then ever.

Worth1 · February 28, 2012

I'll wait till I get home the next time to get a few smaller ones.
That way I can put them in various places, treatments and such to see what method does best.
Looks like I might have tossed a live plant 2 years ago.

Tracy ?
The tropical hibiscus seem to want more care than I am around to give.

I do have 4 types of fern growing in a shady spot next to the house.
1 Fox tail not a true fern.
4 Autumn ferns for the pinkish brown foliage.
4 Japanese holly ferns.
4 southern wood ferns for height.
And out in front some giant Aztec grass.
They should fill in that bare area nicely.

Worth

Tracydr · February 28, 2012

I'm going to have to look for those ferns. I have some deep shade spots around my pool needing plants.

Worth1 · February 28, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tracydr

I'm going to have to look for those ferns. I have some deep shade spots around my pool needing plants.

Here is some good info on the ferns.
You will notice the southern wood fern is suitable for xeriscaping.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...n_fDKA&cad=rja

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...aETw5Q&cad=rja

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...VhJaZw&cad=rja

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...91ztDA&cad=rja

Worth

February 25, 2012	#21
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	I'm back from bloomers and they didn't have any in yet. Home depot does but it is a little early yet.. So the feed my addiction I purchased a violet colored Prickly Pear cactus. I have been wanting one of these for a while. We have the wild common Texas Prickly Pear but not this one. Opuntia Violacea Santa Rita. The more it is neglected the better the color gets. Attachment 22430 Last edited by Worth1; November 17, 2012 at 06:42 PM.

February 26, 2012	#22
matereater Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: S.E. Michigan (Livonia) Posts: 1,264	worth, cactus looks awesome, never seen one that color before. __________________ Steve Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult

February 28, 2012	#26
ddsack Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Northern Minnesota - zone 3 Posts: 3,231	Beautiful on the wall, Worth! I covet all the many colors I see during our annual snowbirding months in Mexico. I did manage to find a fuchia color to grow as a houseplant in a large pot, and it's doing pretty well. It does sometimes lose all of it's leaves, either when I put it out in the spring into real sunshine, or when I bring it back inside in the fall into a dry house. But after some weeks of looking like a naked stick it grows them all back. Inside, I grow it next to an east facing patio door. The only benefit to it losing all the leaves, is that some years I get aphids on it outside, and one winter when it did not shed it's leaves, I struggled to get rid of aphids all winter. This fall it did not shed, (and luckily no aphids!) but had grown one extra long branch that had to fit into a darker corner, and all the leaves on that branch fell off due to lack of light. I'll leave it alone and see if they grow back when I bring it outside again. The few times I have pruned what I thought looked like thin dead branchlets, there still was green in the center of the sticks. __________________ Dee **************

February 25, 2012	#16
ljp Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Edmonton Alberta Posts: 189	I've had a bougainvilea growing indoors for several years. It started in a 3 inch pot and grew to about 15 feet. I draped it over our kitchen windows. In the beginning I was told to let it dry out between waterings to get it to bloom. It has bloomed at least once a year, usually January to March which seemed strange but nice. Lately, the plant hasn't been doing well. It could be being in the same dirt for a decade or lack of fertilizer. However, the one time I fertilized it, it died back. I did prune off all the dead branches and some live ones. Most of the vines I left promptly lost their leaves. Today, I noticed new growth along the oldest vine. I've never managed to root a cutting. I was going to toss it, then I saw a short plant shaped to a tree for $300. Does any one have advice for keeping this plant healthy, not just alive?

February 25, 2012	#18
kurt Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Homestead,Everglades City Fl. Posts: 2,501	One of the main reasons they are grown in Europe thay make excellent burglar defenses.You see them a lot on large villas in Italy,and I used them as a fence cover,not even the squirrels will climb in them.The thorns are tenacious.You can almost train them anyway you want and they make lovely arbors..Just have to wear welding gloves to trim them.The leaf turns into a flower bur they are messy since they shed alot.Down here in Florida they bloom all year long.Just do not let them get out of hand.

February 25, 2012	#19
Sun City Linda Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: SoCal Inland Posts: 2,705	Worth, the trick seems to be to get some wood on them. Cover/protect them from frost first couple years in the ground. Dont know what zone you are in, 8-9? I keep killing the young ones here by forgetting to cover them but I have seen them take off by where I live and once they do, you would have a hard time killing them. Big thorns BTW.

February 28, 2012	#25
Tracydr Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7 Posts: 3,207	Worth, if you can grow bougainvillea there, can you grow tropical hibiscus? That's another lovely plant that I've found relatively drought tolerant ( surprisingly!) and easy to take care of. Tolerates very hot weather, full sun to part-shade. Also, in full sun, lavender and rosemary are the best desert plants! Also, pomegranates, which come in lovely dwarf varieties, if you don't want fruiting. I'm getting ready to add a bunch of hibiscus around my pool. They're one of my favorite flower. I'll mix them with lemon grass, which is a beautiful, well behaved bunch grass that doesn't gett all the dead stuff like pampas grass and doesn't need full sun. I'll also plant some various lilies which I got from our local plant club sale. I'm terrible with landscape type plants. This is just what I've learned since I've been in AZ. If I can't kill them, they probably are hard to kill. My artichoke plant has been looking quite nice and is an interesting landscape plant but I haven't seen how it survives the summers here yet. If you'd like a thistle type plant, that might be something to start in the fall. Needs some water but has a huge tap root so I don't water it much.