All about my Bougainvilleas!

 Bougainvillea is a type of showy ornamental vine, bush or tree depending on the variety you have. I have several types of bougainvillea that I am growing in my zone 9b central Florida garden. One thing that you will come across when you read up on bougainvilleas is that they are an easy, no-fuss kind of plant. I happen to disagree with this statement! I'm not sure if it is because I am in a subtropical planting zone, but if there is something about the climate that the bougainvillea is not happy with, it will let you know right away! These do grow best in warmer zones, between zone 9b-11 and put on their best show in bright sun. If planted in the shade, you will see mostly green leafy growth. 

My 'Barbara Karst' Bougainvillea trailing up our gate in March

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The key to a beautiful, flowering bougainvillea is sun, sun and more sun! They also do not like to be consistently watered, and prefer a very well-draining soil as they do not like wet feet. I have noticed that my bougainvilleas thrive the best with no water at all for weeks, and then a deep soak after 2-4 weeks. All of my bougainvilleas that are planted in the ground, I do not water at all unless there is a drought in our area, which is rare. During the summer here in central Florida, the humidity is so high that if you look at all your plants and grass in the morning, it will look like it just rained. So here, watering during the summer for an established plant is unnecessary. If a bougainvillea does start to get too much water consistently, it will start to look like the photos below.

Barbara Karst bougainvillea new growth affected by heavy rain, July 2023  

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As you can see, bougainvilleas are not happy with too much water. It has been raining a lot here in central Florida and they are mad at me! The leaves begin to curl and wilt a little bit, and flowers do not produce. Since this is planted in a raised bed with extremely well draining soil, I'm just going to wait it out and see how it does when the heavy rain begins to subside.

Here is a magenta colored Bougainvillea that i have growing in a pot on the opposite side of the Barbara Karst bougainvillea I have. They are both only a year old, so we will see how they establish themselves. 

Pictured below is my bougainvillea 'Raspberry Ice'. Beautiful variegated leaves with hot pink bracts that flower when it's sunny, hot and dry. I planted a hedge of 5 of them and as you can see, they are growing up beautifully. They aren't in bloom right now, but the foliage is beautiful enough for me!

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And last but not least, is my new baby bougainvillea 'Torch Glow'. It is a self-supporting bougainvillea that has branches that stand upright and bloom fiery magenta bracts in the end, like a torch! I can't wait to see this variety establish itself and grow bigger!

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I do have one more bougainvillea that I have not posted yet, however it is another variety within the "torch" varieties. It is called 'Pixie Queen' and has a slight variegation on the leaves with the same beautiful pink bracts. Once it is a little bigger, I will share a photo of it!

I hope you are all having an amazing day. Happy gardening!