Bougainvillea Care

Learn how to take care of a bougainvillea and keep it blooming for a long while, where those with a green thumb will take pleasure in caring for this flowering beauty.

Bougainvilleas are pretty flowering plants that originate from Brazil, and belong to the Nyctaginaceae family. They're also called paper flowers, since they have that papery texture to it, resembling paper cutouts that are made to look like bracts (colored leaves).

It can fall into flowing vines, or stay upright in a scattered array of brightly colored bracts, with white small flowers that aren't as pretty as what encases them; these come in rich colors that are full in vibrancy.

They thrive in tropical climates, and need a lot of heat and sun to fuel their growth rate. In order to help them bloom all year round, one has to supply the plant with a good fertilizer, that will help it stay alive and blossom well through the seasons.

Bougainvillea care is not that hard to partake in, since the care you give this plant is something you will get accustomed to in no time.

If you'd like to keep your plant indoors, then you need to carry this out into an area with ample sunlight, and expose it for a time frame of at least 5 hours. Position it in such a way that it gets a generous amount of exposure in the sun.

If you'd like to see it bloom to its maximum, then how long you keep this plant exposed to the sun will play a huge role.

The best way to keep these plants blossoming all year round, is to place them at all times in direct sunlight, like out on the porch or in an open garden that is facing a good expansive area where sunlight filters in directly with no obstructions.

You can follow the seasons by adding more water to the plant during summer, and cut down on it during winter, since they will absorb less during this time. Check your plants to eliminate excess wilting. If you find that the plant will wilt soon, water it properly to regain some life.

Be careful about visitors, like aphids and caterpillars attacking your plant, since if the soil is too wet, these can ruin your plants and leave you with a half-eaten bougainvillea. When using a fertilizer, it is important to make sure that it is abundant in micronutrients and phosphorus.

Just make certain that you constantly supply the plant with fertilizer to help it grow the right way; be careful that you don't over-fertilize your plant. Use the fertilizer as the instructions dictate, and get the kind that has an additional amount of magnesium and iron added to it as well.

Pruning is important for your plant, and can be done during any time of the year. If you're planning to move your plant indoors, like say during winter, you need to give it a thorough pruning to bring down its growth rate.

If you're looking for a more neat and trimmed look, then light pruning is what you should do, snipping the extra growth noticed. When pruning, don't pinch the tip of the stem out if you want a bare stem intact, since bougainvillea cultivars will sprout new stems from leaf buds just below the cut.

If you live in frigid regions that are prone to extremely chilly climatic conditions, then these plants can easily get damaged with frost.

The right temperatures to keep these plants going are between 70° F to 86° F on warm days, and on chilly nights about 61° F to 70° F. If kept in warm areas, the plant will do just fine, but won't do well in excess frost conditions.

Caring for a bougainvillea is not a hard a process to practice, since those who have a love for plants can do quite well if they take it upon themselves to get into gardening. Just remember these important plant care tips and you'll have yourself one lovely bougainvillea.