Bougainvillea returns!

[SailorBold]

I planted a few 1 gallon Bougainvillea 'Barbara Karst' last summer and while cleaning up today saw it returning from the roots.

The ground stayed warm but anything above the soil line saw around 15F (-9C) and at least a full day below 30F (-1C).

Here is a pic of the new growth.. I am hopeful the other 2 will return too!

Nice surprise !

[_Keith]

Awesome. This year, I also had my first one come back. A purple variety, but I am not sure of the name.

[Kailua_Krish]

Ive heard the purple is the hardiest. Not sure where though

[SailorBold]

I wasn't expecting them to survive really.. my neighbors reminded me it's an annual which i agreed. I may try the purple one.. is it 'Purple Queen' you speak of?

I don't see any growth on the others yet.. but they arent spongy or crispy yet

[DoomsDave]

PURPLE IS LIKELY BRASILIENSIS, SPECIES

[SailorBold]

I will need to try one of the purple as they are very beautiful...

Update: They have all returned and are actually getting some size.. I will share some photos when they start bloomin'

[_Keith]

I will need to try one of the purple as they are very beautiful...

Update: They have all returned and are actually getting some size.. I will share some photos when they start bloomin'

Awesome. I'll take some good photos of mine when it flowers in the fall to see if we can figure out which variety it might be.

[SailorBold]

Update August 2016..  The plant seems to be growing stronger every year.. perhaps it might be over the house by the end of the growing season, but must be approaching 10 feet already.  It has been blooming lightly most of the summer..

[Ben in Norcal]

1 minute ago, SailorBold said:

Update August 2016..  The plant seems to be growing stronger every year.. perhaps it might be over the house by the end of the growing season, but must be approaching 10 feet already.  It has been blooming lightly most of the summer..

What is the bush/plant in front of it?

[SailorBold]

14 minutes ago, Ben in Norcal said:

What is the bush/plant in front of it?

Pride of Barbados.. or Red Desert Bird of Paradise.. Caesalpinia pulcherrima.  This plant is enormous this year..

Beautiful isn't it?  Reminds me of a Delonix..  There is another one...Caesalpinia gilliesii that is a fairly common plant here.. also not a bad looker..pretty sure its name is Yellow Bird of Paradise.

 

 

[Silas_Sancona]

6 minutes ago, Ben in Norcal said:

What is the bush/plant in front of it?

 Ben, the Bush is Caesalpinia pulcherrima ( Red Bird of Paradise/ Dwarf Poinciana) Very common landscape plant across the Southwest.

SailorBold, that Boug. is a BEAST.. Watch those thorns when/ if you cut it back come Winter. You try any of the Dwarf/ "Torch Glow" types yet?

[SailorBold]

5 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

 Ben, the Bush is Caesalpinia pulcherrima ( Red Bird of Paradise/ Dwarf Poinciana) Very common landscape plant across the Southwest.

SailorBold, that Boug. is a BEAST.. Watch those thorns when/ if you cut it back come Winter. You try any of the Dwarf/ "Torch Glow" types yet?

Oh it was crazy last year as I waited a bit after the first hard freeze.. it was somewhat a slow process with those thorns... this year I will get it while its still soft.  Its worth it to me.. such a neat plant!  I haven't tried any of the dwarf types yet..   Do you grow any in Phoenix?

[Silas_Sancona]

4 minutes ago, SailorBold said:

Oh it was crazy last year as I waited a bit after the first hard freeze.. it was somewhat a slow process with those thorns... this year I will get it while its still soft.  Its worth it to me.. such a neat plant!  I haven't tried any of the dwarf types yet..   Do you grow any in Phoenix?

Agree, it is sort of like growing stuff like Texas Ebony, or Sweet Acacia.. all are thorny as heck, but great plants don't flinch in our heat, and take very little care once established.

 As for the shorter, more "bush-like" types, Torch glow is very popular around town. While the individual flowers tend to be smaller, these types seem to produce more flowers overall. Like that they don't have the thorns and make great bonsai subjects, even in the ground.  Slower growing and compact than the "climbing/scrambling" types. 

The Pink flowered type seems to be the most widely available here but there are also Deep Magenta,  Whitish, and Orange/Pink flowering cultivars. Suspect they also exhibit decent cold tolerance since i see good sized specimens around the usually colder spots such as Queen Creek and the San Tan area. That side of the East Valley still has a lot of open desert surrounding newer neighborhoods. Even so, i'm sure they would come back fast if frosted but not completely frozen out.

[SailorBold]

12 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Agree, it is sort of like growing stuff like Texas Ebony, or Sweet Acacia.. all are thorny as heck, but great plants don't flinch in our heat, and take very little care once established.

 As for the shorter, more "bush-like" types, Torch glow is very popular around town. While the individual flowers tend to be smaller, these types seem to produce more flowers overall. Like that they don't have the thorns and make great bonsai subjects, even in the ground.  Slower growing and compact than the "climbing/scrambling" types. 

The Pink flowered type seems to be the most widely available here but there are also Deep Magenta,  Whitish, and Orange/Pink flowering cultivars. Suspect they also exhibit decent cold tolerance since i see good sized specimens around the usually colder spots such as Queen Creek and the San Tan area. That side of the East Valley still has a lot of open desert surrounding newer neighborhoods. Even so, i'm sure they would come back fast if frosted but not completely frozen out.

I only watered the bougainvillea a few times this summer.. and it just goes bonkers..so healthy looking.  I hope it goes into full bloom before it freezes back.

I am going to look into the bush types for sure.. especially if they are thornless (didn't know that).. They would be great if they will be perennial.. I can use them to fill in my oasis area..I will need to try a few.

[Ben in Norcal]

I just got a Bougainvillea arborea - supposedly a thornless tree form?  Interested to see how that one does here.

[Pip]

On 16/08/2016, 10:27:01, Ben in Norcal said:

I just got a Bougainvillea arborea - supposedly a thornless tree form?  Interested to see how that one does here.

It should do very well for you Ben. I have one in my garden although I have found a branch with thorns but they are very small thorns compared to typical Bougainvillea thorns.

[Ben in Norcal]

23 minutes ago, Pip said:

It should do very well for you Ben. I have one in my garden although I have found a branch with thorns but they are very small thorns compared to typical Bougainvillea thorns.

I'm excited about it!  Would love to see a pic of yours!

[Matthew92]

On 8/14/2016, 11:58:38, SailorBold said:

Pride of Barbados.. or Red Desert Bird of Paradise.. Caesalpinia pulcherrima.  This plant is enormous this year..

Beautiful isn't it?  Reminds me of a Delonix..  There is another one...Caesalpinia gilliesii that is a fairly common plant here.. also not a bad looker..pretty sure its name is Yellow Bird of Paradise.

 

 

Does it come back from the ground after each winter for you?

[SailorBold]

On ‎8‎/‎17‎/‎2016‎ ‎9‎:‎25‎:‎30‎, Opal92 said:

Does it come back from the ground after each winter for you?

Yes... the cold will zap them and I normally clip it down to the ground right then..it can be a little messy in the yard but this year I waited until spring and to my surprise the stems were sprouting ~8 inches up.. so it is somewhat stem hardy.

[SailorBold]

Bougainvillea returning..a labor of love...lol

[Sandy Loam]

Oh wow. I wish mine would come back like that effortlessly, but it is playing dead. Maybe your subspecies is hardier than mine?  I had somewhere that the thornier the species, the more cold-hardy it will be.

 

It's nice that yours already has some decent size to it in May.  By September, I suppose it will be huge! (?) 

 

Mine has only been there for two years and is in a large pot.  Its first winter was no problem - - it kept blooming the whole time.  Yet, this past winter, we had a cold night that appears to have killed it.  I have never covered my bougainvillea, but I am thinking that my mistake was to plant it in a pot instead of the ground.  There are a few old/bougainvilleas around town here, so I must be doing something wrong. 

 

Anyways, SailorBold, you are definitely doing something right, especially in a colder locale like Albuquerque. Although they thrive in central and southern Florida, these plants are borderline here in northern Florida (which is warmer than Albuquerque), so you must have a green thumb.  I'm just curious to know how soon they will start blooming there. Keep us posted! 

[SailorBold]

On 5/24/2021 at 5:31 AM, Sandy Loam said:

Oh wow. I wish mine would come back like that effortlessly, but it is playing dead. Maybe your subspecies is hardier than mine?  I had somewhere that the thornier the species, the more cold-hardy it will be.

 

It's nice that yours already has some decent size to it in May.  By September, I suppose it will be huge! (?) 

 

Mine has only been there for two years and is in a large pot.  Its first winter was no problem - - it kept blooming the whole time.  Yet, this past winter, we had a cold night that appears to have killed it.  I have never covered my bougainvillea, but I am thinking that my mistake was to plant it in a pot instead of the ground.  There are a few old/bougainvilleas around town here, so I must be doing something wrong. 

 

Anyways, SailorBold, you are definitely doing something right, especially in a colder locale like Albuquerque. Although they thrive in central and southern Florida, these plants are borderline here in northern Florida (which is warmer than Albuquerque), so you must have a green thumb.  I'm just curious to know how soon they will start blooming there. Keep us posted! 

Pretty reliable perennial..  this may not be the best picture of it..   I was planning on fertilizing it with a bloom booster.. but kept putting that off..  ill try it next year.. not sure that would work or not.. shrugs..

I do not water it anymore..but still not covered in blooms.. 

[Silas_Sancona]

4 minutes ago, SailorBold said:

Pretty reliable perennial..  this may not be the best picture of it..   I was planning on fertilizing it with a bloom booster.. but kept putting that off..  ill try it next year.. not sure that would work or not.. shrugs..

I do not water it anymore..but still not covered in blooms.. 

Looks good!  Going by that growth, i wouldn't even worry about adding any Bloom Booster ( does not look hungry at all ).  My Torch Glows go veggie vs. flowering at times, esp. if pruned hard -at first. Eventually, newer growth will flower.   Bet if you could keep most of the newer growth safe from freezing over the winter, it would flower heavily next year. 

Lots of shade can decrease the amount of flowers too.

[UK_Palms]

Here's some Bougainvillea that has been growing in London over the past decade. I have attached the street view location too, which shows it was planted tiny sometime before 2012...

[UK_Palms]

I don't mean to gatecrash this thread, but here is another Bougainvillea that is growing in east London. I don't know where else to post this besides here, and I do feel it needs to be posted. 

 

Here it is on street view in December, outside of blooming. It still appears to have a few pink flowers on it lingering into December though. I seriously doubt these Bougainvillea's have ever been protected during winter there. I suspect there's probably quite a few more lurking out there, especially around London. 

 

@SailorBold Do you protect your Bougainvillea during winter, or is it totally left to fend for itself? Also, what is the lowest temp it has taken and come back from? I don't own one myself and don't know that much about them either, but I am seriously thinking of getting one next spring now after seeing them do so well in London, unprotected. I would definitely have to protect mine here though I think, unlike in London, since I am located way out in the country with no UHI. Although I saw that you mentioned how your one came back from 15F / -9C. Is that the lowest it has seen or has it seen even lower since then? Cheers. 

[SailorBold]

Hey UK... those bougainvillea are amazing!  Wow.. definitely shows how mild London is.. I thought it was a Zone8.. but with CIDP showing no damage.. it is warmer than that.. even more so If bougainvillea isn't killed to the ground! Thanks for sharing..

I dont protect the bougainvilleas..and they are Barbara Karst planted as 5 buck 1 gallons.. I have a total of 3.. still want to try the other varieties.. and a purple one like in your photos... the lowest they have seen is ~9f.  I'm a zone 7b/8a.. right on the border leaning mostly into 8a.. its cold!

[SailorBold]

One of the other ones with a cool spray of color...

[UK_Palms]

@SailorBold Hey man, hope you are well. A few more weeks have passed so I was just wondering how the Bougainvillea is looking now? Have you guys had your first frost yet in Albuquerque? If not, when is your first frost date usually in your neck of the woods? Your days are still warmer than mine looking at the forecast, but your nights are significantly colder than here.

I'm glad you finally got some decent blooms on your Bougainville and I love how your cacti and Bougainvillea compliment each other. I am definitely going to get some Bougainvillea this coming spring. Probably the Barbara Karst type like you have. The dark purple Bougainvillea is the 'Spectabilis' type and it is the least hardy. Wikipedia puts it at zones 10-11, but it is probably a bit hardier than that if it is growing in what is a 9b part of London. The pinky-purple 'Glabra' type may be worth a shot for you in NM, since it is a bit hardier. I may give that one a try here as well.

[SailorBold]

On 10/26/2021 at 4:23 PM, UK_Palms said:

@SailorBold Hey man, hope you are well. A few more weeks have passed so I was just wondering how the Bougainvillea is looking now? Have you guys had your first frost yet in Albuquerque? If not, when is your first frost date usually in your neck of the woods? Your days are still warmer than mine looking at the forecast, but your nights are significantly colder than here.

I'm glad you finally got some decent blooms on your Bougainville and I love how your cacti and Bougainvillea compliment each other. I am definitely going to get some Bougainvillea this coming spring. Probably the Barbara Karst type like you have. The dark purple Bougainvillea is the 'Spectabilis' type and it is the least hardy. Wikipedia puts it at zones 10-11, but it is probably a bit hardier than that if it is growing in what is a 9b part of London. The pinky-purple 'Glabra' type may be worth a shot for you in NM, since it is a bit hardier. I may give that one a try here as well.

Doin alright.. rolling with the punches...hope you are well too...  The Bougainvilleas are still blooming the same.. still no freeze where Im at.. got close but the colder outskirts have..  The weather has been awesome- perfect days.. chilly mornings. First freeze here is roughly right around Halloween.. but can be into the latter part of November..   Frost is kind of hard to define here..  normally the dew points are so low that there wont be any moisture to form frost..  if they were higher we most definitely would have had some frost already.. so for now.. just cold plants.. lol

Ill need to check into those varieties...  Id like to add some of the torch glows as well..  definitely the purple one as well..

Im curious what your elevation is... 

[UK_Palms]

On 11/2/2021 at 12:24 PM, SailorBold said:

Doin alright.. rolling with the punches...hope you are well too...  The Bougainvilleas are still blooming the same.. still no freeze where Im at.. got close but the colder outskirts have..  The weather has been awesome- perfect days.. chilly mornings. First freeze here is roughly right around Halloween.. but can be into the latter part of November..   Frost is kind of hard to define here..  normally the dew points are so low that there wont be any moisture to form frost..  if they were higher we most definitely would have had some frost already.. so for now.. just cold plants.. lol

Ill need to check into those varieties...  Id like to add some of the torch glows as well..  definitely the purple one as well..

Im curious what your elevation is... 

Hey man, I hope you are well? How are your Bougainvillea's doing this spring? I have just purchased 3 new ones for my yard, since they were only £6 ($7) each! I got 3 of them for only £18 ($22). They should fire whoever is doing their pricing at the store lol. They are crazy cheap and should probably be at least triple that really. This was from my local supermarket, which is the equivalent of Walmart in the States pretty much. I was surprised to even see them being sold there. 

 

To answer your question about elevation, I am approximately 55m or 180 feet above sea level here. So not particularly high up, but much higher than the coastal or London areas that are loaded with all those palms and exotics. Those areas are almost at sea level really.  

Did you get around to adding any new Bougainvillea varieties? I think this is one of the most interesting plants for temperature/med/tropical climates. 

[SailorBold]

On 5/15/2022 at 9:54 AM, UK_Palms said:

Hey man, I hope you are well? How are your Bougainvillea's doing this spring? I have just purchased 3 new ones for my yard, since they were only £6 ($7) each! I got 3 of them for only £18 ($22). They should fire whoever is doing their pricing at the store lol. They are crazy cheap and should probably be at least triple that really. This was from my local supermarket, which is the equivalent of Walmart in the States pretty much. I was surprised to even see them being sold there. 

 

To answer your question about elevation, I am approximately 55m or 180 feet above sea level here. So not particularly high up, but much higher than the coastal or London areas that are loaded with all those palms and exotics. Those areas are almost at sea level really.  

Did you get around to adding any new Bougainvillea varieties? I think this is one of the most interesting plants for temperature/med/tropical climates. 

Haven't added anymore just yet..  but just got my first blooms for this year.. i do need to fertilize...  those should do well for you... very nice color.  Can't beat that price.. they grow so fast you really don't need to purchase anything bigger than a 1 gallon.  What a deal.. did you plant them out yet?  

[Nico94]

Here are two Bougainvillea that I planted three years ago.The variety is « Violet de Meze ».It is the most resistant to cold.I’m near Paris in France.

[Axel Amsterdam]

Hi Nico, beautiful, I have the same variety here in Amsterdam. Yours is ahead in terms of flowering though as Paris has been much warmer than Amsterdam the past weeks. 

Btw do you know the large CIDP in Le Marais, Paris? 

Edited July 7, 2022 by Axel Amsterdam

[Axel Amsterdam]

Violet de Meze slowly flowering but hardy to -7C 

[Axel Amsterdam]

a regular glabra in Cannes

[bubba]

This just never leaves:

[Axel Amsterdam]

On 8/16/2016 at 2:57 AM, Ben in Norcal said:

I just got a Bougainvillea arborea - supposedly a thornless tree form?  Interested to see how that one does here.

Its an older post but i hope you can post a picture of the arborea as i am fairly sure its the same as violet de Meze in France.

[Axel Amsterdam]

arborea in Portugal

Edited July 11, 2022 by Axel Amsterdam

[Axel Amsterdam]

arborea in Rome

[Axel Amsterdam]

in the last pic you can see that while the bougainvillea is trimmed in a tree shape it quickly developes these long individual branches that are somewhat similar to torch glow in purple mauve. Like this:

Edited July 11, 2022 by Axel Amsterdam