Bougainvillea Pruning: Secrets to Healthier, Fuller Plants
If you’re as passionate about gardening as I am and live in a warmer climate, bougainvillea is a must-have for your garden. Its vibrant colors during the growing season are unmatched, bringing an explosion of color to any space. Proper pruning is essential to keep your bougainvillea thriving and bursting with blooms. In this guide, you’ll discover the best techniques for bougainvillea pruning in late winter, spring, summer, and fall, ensuring your plants stay healthy, vigorous, and full of color.
In late winter or early spring, it’s time to start preparing for the warmer seasons to come. Bougainvillea is a vigorous grower and needs pruning throughout the year. When, how often, and how severe depends on where you live, what shape or form it’s growing in now, and what shape you want it to take on.
I’ve grown bougainvillea in two different climate zones for years now: Santa Barbara, CA (USDA hardiness zones 10a & 10b) and Tucson, AZ (zones 9a & 9b). Not sure what zone you’re in? You can check your hardiness zone on a map. I’ll tell you from experience: bougainvillea isn’t hard to shape, but it can take some work.
Note: This post was published on 2/22/2020. It was updated on 8/17/2024.
Bougainvillea Pruning Guides
There are different varieties of bougainvillea, and the lower-growing ones don’t require as much pruning as the tall climbing/vine types. The bottom line is that pruning leads to a healthy plant. Bougainvillea blooms on new growth, and pruning stimulates new growth, which, in turn, stimulates flowering. A good reason to prune!
I’m often asked how to prune a bougainvillea after an overnight freeze, the best time of year to do pruning, and the best pruning practices. Everything I share is from experience. This is a round-up of our most popular posts on pruning this beloved landscape plant. Click on the title, and it’ll take you to the post.
Pruning Bougainvillea After a Freeze
Bougainvillea grows in warm climates. One night, a freeze damaged my bougainvillea plants. Here are a few tips on pruning bougainvillea after a light freeze. I now have experience pruning bougainvillea after a few hard freezes, so I share that, too.
How to Prune an Overgrown Bougainvillea
I moved into a home in Tucson with an overgrown bougainvillea that needed hard pruning. Here, you can see how I prune and train the plant to have a better shape and bring on a big show of flowers. The plant grew into a beautiful shape and provided lots of rosy-red color to the dining patio off the kitchen.
Bougainvillea Winter Pruning and Training
I had a bougainvillea glabra that grew up and across the top of my garage in Santa Barbara. See how I pruned and trained this large bougainvillea. I gave it a big yearly pruning in winter, which set the tone for the shape it would be for the rest of the year. When in full bloom, this bougie was an eye-catching explosion of color!
Bougainvillea Summer Pruning (Mid-Season)
Why have bougainvillea if it doesn’t bloom? Pruning it in summer (mid-season for this plant) encourages another round or two of big bloom. Here are a few pruning tips to help you get the most out of your bougainvillea for the rest of the season and into fall.
How to Get Bougainvillea to Bloom.
Pruning this plant (especially the larger growing species/varieties like you see below) can be time-consuming but worth the adventure. My Bougainvillea Barbara Karst in Tucson had been pruned into a “green hedge/blob” by the previous owner. Here’s how I opened it up and got it to bloom for months.
How to Prune and Trim Bougainvillea For Maximum Bloom
Check out my Bougainvillea glabra in Santa Barbara – it’s a riot of color! Want to see this happen in your own garden? Here’s how I prune and trim my bougainvillea for maximum bloom. Like with all these posts, there’s a video for you also.
Got questions about growing bougainvillea? We’ve got the answers!
Check out our in-depth Bougainvillea Guide, designed to help you grow this beautiful plant with confidence. Click the link to learn more. Happy growing!
Bougainvillea Pruning FAQs
First, I’ll discuss the big pruning, which determines the shape and size of the bougainvillea for the season. This depends on your climate zone. In Santa Barbara (along the California coast zone 10a), I did that pruning in late January through mid-February, depending on what was going on weather-wise.
Here in Tucson (the Sonoran Desert zone 9a), the days can be warmer, but the nights are colder. Because we experience a handful or two evenings dipping below 30F, I wait until mid-March through early April to do the big pruning on my bougies.
In addition, I prune after each big flowering throughout the growing season. I pruned more extensively in Santa Barbara than in Tucson because of its moderate climate. When the temperatures are over 95 F in the desert, I pretty much leave my bougainvilleas be, except for a little tip pruning. Pruning in that heat isn’t good for the plant or the pruner!
In Santa Barbara, I pruned my bougainvilleas four or five times during the season, whereas here in Tucson, it’s more like two or three.
This also depends on your bougainvillea’s type, size, shape, and form. For example, a tightly shaped bougainvillea will require more frequent pruning than one that grows more free-form.
It depends on the type of bougainvillea you have and what shape you want it to take on.
One of mine, Bougainvillea glabra, grew up and over the garage in Santa Barbara and reached 20’+ tall. I pruned it down to 2 major trunks and trained it to grow up the right side of the garage. I attached a metal trellis to the center top of the garage and trained it to grow across the entire span. It required work but was very well worth it in the end!
My Bougainvillea Barbara Karst (which reaches 25′) next to my garage here in Tucson never gets that tall because a freeze usually knocks it back. When I moved into this house, it had been kept pruned as a 5′ hedge and never flowered.
I let it grow out, opened it up, and now it grows as an open shrub. It blooms regularly, which is what we all want. I keep it under 8′ tall, so it’s easier to prune because not much ladder work is required.
A word of warning: bougainvillea has thorns that get larger as they age. When pruning, wearing gloves and a shirt with long sleeves is a good idea.
I do the big pruning in late winter/early spring. Throughout the season, I prune to shape and encourage the next round of blooming.
I do light pruning to shape in the fall, so my bougainvilleas aren’t a mess going into winter. Tucson can get its 1st freeze in late December, so I make sure mid-November wraps up pruning. In the coastal areas of California, where a freeze is rare, you can prune into early to mid-December.
In my opinion, yes. I’ve seen bougainvillea that hasn’t been pruned at all, and it’s a ratty mess full of dead wood and bare stems. You don’t need to cut it back hard unless it’s severely overgrown. Otherwise, a light or moderate pruning will do. For best results, you prune to encourage healthy growth, increase flowering, and set the plant’s shape.
Saving the best for last! It’s important to know that bougainvillea blooms on new growth. Therefore, new flowers form on new growth. If you see a tall, overgrown, unpruned older bougainvillea, that’s why all the blooms are at the very ends.
Bougainvillea needs at least six hours of full sun to produce a big bloom. It also loves warmth, so if it doesn’t get these two things, it’ll produce fewer flowers or not bloom at all. Bougainvillea has a rest period between each bloom cycle, so there’s no constant bloom.
If your bougainvillea gets too much water and/or too much fertilizer, it’ll most likely produce abundant green growth. Once your bougainvillea is well established, it won’t need much supplemental water; just what falls from the sky.
Conclusion:
So, even a simple tip prune can encourage new growth and more blooms. That’s why it’s important to prune or do a light trimming of your bougainvillea after each major flowering cycle. This practice promotes fresh growth and brings on the vibrant blooms we all love. If you’re passionate about creating a beautiful garden, you’ll truly appreciate the long, abundant flowering periods that bougainvillea offers.
Interested in buying bougainvillea online? Check out Monrovia Growers.
Happy Gardening!
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Nell, the founder of Joy Us garden, was born into a gardening family and grew up in Connecticut’s countryside. After living in Boston, New York, San Francisco, & Santa Barbara, she now calls the Arizona desert home. She studied horticulture & garden design, working in the field all her life. Nell is a gardener, designer, blogger, Youtube creator, & author. She’s been gardening for a very long time & wants to share what she’s learned with you.
Hi Nell! I love your posts! I’m not sure what color bougainvillea glabra is but I am looking for something very similar. I looked on the Monrovia Growers website but can’t seem to tell from the selection which one is similar to yours. I’m assuming the Purple Queen is the closest?
Another question I have is regarding the full sun requirement. I would love to grow a bougainvillea up along the sides of my pergola, however, only 1 side of the pergola gets full sun. Does the entire plant require full sun or just where it is planted?
Thanks again for all your useful information!
Thank you! Yes, Purple Queen would be the closest. Bougies grow & flower best in full sun. When not in full sun, they’re not as robust nor do they flower nearly as much. Nell