Help with Bougainvillea

527 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by RiverSky, Aug 7, 2006

RiverSky

Discussion Starter · Aug 6, 2006

I don't have any green thumbs and would really appreciate it if someone could explain my Bougainvillea "tree" to me.

First of all, it was in a pot and it took a while for us to decide where we should put it, so we just had it in the pot, sitting in the front flower bed for quite a while (month or two?). Finally, we decided that the front flower bed was indeed where we wanted to plant it, so we did, in the exact same place it had been standing. The bougainvillea did very well for months, flowers all over, then in a short period of time, the flowers all disappeared and the green leaves remained. the plant itself has been growing and is much larger than when we bought the tree six or so months ago. After a few weeks, flowers started growing back until the entire plant was pink again. Then they started to go away. Now, for the last two or three months, it has been bare of flowers and just green. The "branches" have grown very long, the plant itself is lush and a vibrant dark green, it looks very healthy, but there are no flowers.

What should I do? No one else's bougainvillea in the general area seems to do this, they are always flowering. Am I missing something? What should I do? Should I trim all the branches? Help, please!

TYIA

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claras_mom

· #2 · Aug 6, 2006

If you're in an area where bougainvilla in general grows really well, I'd say just don't worry about it as long as it looks healthy overall. I don't have any better advice than that because I have one that basically grows like a weed and has to be sheared back every couple of months. And yes, there are times when there's more color than at other times.

Maybe one of the other green thumbs out there can give you better information! Even after more than 10 years in a place with basically no winter (we have a rainy season, but it doesn't really get that much colder), I'm still not always sure what's going on. Some things never die back; just cycle year round (boug., daylilies, roses), others do (fruit trees, peonies, daffodils and so forth). So it can be really confusing. My fallback is just leaving most things alone; fertilizing when things yellow or look peaked; watering to get drought tolerant things established but then backing off.

Gotta go...dd can't decide whether she wants to eat a cracker or brush her teeth, but she wants me along for the ride.

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blastomom

· #3 · Aug 6, 2006

I grew up in Hawaii and the stuff grows like weeds there. I know that some varieties are more "ever-flowering" than others. When we put B plants along the 100' fence at the back of our property the landscapers suggested planting a variety so that there was always something in bloom. Another suggestion I have heard is to stagger the pruning to coax the plant to keep blooming. Just cut back 1/2 the canes at a time and when the plants send out new, flowering canes then cut the other 1/2 back. I've never tried this one myself. You can pretty much completely butcher an established plant--we cut ours back to the stump a couple of times a year to keep them full and loaded with blooms.

Now, back to see what's new with TomCat...

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RiverSky

Discussion Starter · #4 · Aug 7, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by blastomom
Now, back to see what's new with TomCat...

Did you catch it before the thread disappeared? I managed to spend the entire day away only to find it missing when I did get bakc.

Thank you so much for your bougainvillea advice. I'm in Florida. I think I will try pruning it and see what happens.

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RiverSky

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 7, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by claras_mom
Gotta go...dd can't decide whether she wants to eat a cracker or brush her teeth, but she wants me along for the ride.

Awww cute. I think I will try shearing it back, it has really gotten to be so much huger than when we bought it and planted it. I did notice that a neighbor's bougainvillea wasn't blooming right now either, so perhaps it's just a non-blooming time for the one I have. I'm going to try to prune it and see what happens. Thanx!

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