The Secrets Of Bougainvillea: Everything You Need to Know

I’ve done a few posts about bougainvillea but this one is straight-up everything I know about it including planting and care.  I worked at a nursery in Berkeley, CA that carried bougainvillea and that’s where I first learned a few things about it.  I’ve since moved south and in this part of the state, it’s seemingly everywhere.  

Love it or hate it you can’t go 2 blocks without a bougainvillea sighting. Lots of colors, sizes, shapes, and forms make it a very common landscape plant – especially fitting with the Mediterranean and Spanish architecture here in Santa Barbara.  I’m in the “love it” category in case you’re wondering.

What I’ve Learned About Bougainvillea

a large magenta bougainvillea in full bloom is trained to climb up & over a garage door

My Bougainvillea glabra at the end of the driveway always draws oohh & aahhs – it’s a riot of color. Watch the video below & you’ll see how it looked in early Feb.

What Does Bougainvillea Need to Thrive?

Sunlight

They need at least 6 hours a day to produce all that color we love.

Not enough sun = not enough bloom.

Warm Temperatures

They love the heat. 1 or 2 nights of a light frost won’t harm them but anything more that could.  The recommended USDA zones are 9B through 11.

Drier Climates

They’re better suited to drier climes – we don’t get rain here for 8 or 9 months out of the year.

Well-drained Soil

They’re not too fussy about soil type but it must drain freely.  A mixture of loam & organic compost worked into the native soil is what they like.  like. 

Close up of a white Bougainvillea in full bloom this is bougainvillea mary palmer's enchantment

How to Choose Your Own Bougainvillea

They come in many colors, types & sizes. Colors run the gamut from white all the way to purple. Double-flowered varieties are available too.

I’ve already done a post showing some of these options so be sure to check it out.

You can get 1 with variegated foliage if you want some real pizazz in the garden. There are ground cover & dwarf forms if you don’t want a monster plant. And pay attention to height because some of the taller varieties don’t get as tall as others. No lack of choices regarding choosing a bougainvillea.

Planting

Bougs are tough as can be but are big babies when it comes to their roots.  They don’t like to have them disturbed. You’ll have much better luck if you leave them in the grow pot when planting. I cut the rim off & make slits in the sides & bottom of the pot.

Dig the hole twice as wide as deep & add in a good amount of loam (you don’t need this if your soil drains freely) & organic compost.  Water it in very deeply.

If you want it to grow against a wall or fence, then angle it that way. For more info check this post on “how to plant bougainvillea to grow successfully: the one thing to know.

Watering

2 words – water deeply. Bougainvillea likes to be watered well & have it drain out. After established, they’re drought tolerant. My Bougainvillea glabra didn’t get any water for 9 months last year & it’s lookin’ great. Overwatering = no color (not to mention rot!).

Pruning / Trimming

They need it as they are very vigorous growers. I give both of mine a harder pruning in mid-winter to set the shape I want them to be later on in the year. I do this when the evenings are starting to warm a bit. You don’t want to prune them if there’s any danger of frost on the horizon. I do a few lighter prunings, or trimmings, after each flowering cycle during the seasons to keep them in that shape.

The flowering cycles tend to run every 2 months.  Be sure to wear gloves – the majority of bougs have long thorns. Blood has been shed!  They put out long, fleshy water shoots so be sure to prune those out – they mess up the shape.

Bougainvilleas bloom on new wood.  More pinching = more color. If you want more blooms, check this post: How I Prune & Trim My Bougainvillea For Maximum Bloom.

Fertilizing

I’ve never fertilized mine & they bloom just how I want them to.  There are lots of bougainvillea fertilizers on the market but the one that we recommended at the nursery was also for palms & hibiscus. I don’t do this either but they’d probably enjoy a good dose of organic compost or worm compost every year.

close up of an orange & pink bougainvillea this is bougainvillea rosenka

Pests

The only pests I’ve seen on mine are the bougainvillea loopers.  These are small caterpillars that chew away at the leaves.  You’ll see black droppings around the base of the plant.  I just leave them be because they don’t appear until mid-summer or so & never permanently damage my plants.  BT or neem oil sprays are what is recommended to keep infestations under control. Besides, too many butterflies & hummingbirds visit my plants so I want them to enjoy the flowers “au natural”. 

Training

Bougainvilleas don’t cling or attach themselves so you need to train them. As I noted above in “planting”, angle them towards whatever they’ll be growing on. They’re not hard to train but it does take a little effort. Without support, they just flop down & can become a sprawling low blob.

On a wall – If you have a chain-link fence, after a little initial guidance, it will attach itself. Otherwise, you’ll need to provide some guidance in the form of eye-hooks & wire or something like that.

On a trellis or arbor – Attach it with tie & train & prune it as it grows. The new growth is easy to bend.

Hedge – just keep on pinching & pruning out all that soft growth.  Not as much flowering though. As a tree – gradually started taking out the other stems to get it to 1 main truck. I did this with my Bougainvillea Barbara Karst.

Transplanting

It’s a crapshoot. See “planting” above. If you must try, make sure you get the whole root ball. Dig a very large hole & add plenty of those amendments. Keep it well watered & hope for the best. They’re a very common plant & not very expensive so I’d recommend buying a new one.

Uses In The Landscape

Bougainvilleas are very tough & very versatile.  Use them as a vine, ground cover, hedge or tree.  On arbors, trellis’, fences, buildings & walls. In containers & hanging baskets.

I could add topiary or bonsai because here in Santa Barbara I’ve seen it pruned into the shapes of a large basket & swan.  Now that’s an Edward Scissorhands at it’s finest! 

Purple Bougainvillea with chartreuse variegated foliage growing on a pot this is bougainvillea golden jackpot

In Containers

They do well.  If it’s a larger growing variety, just make sure the pot is large too.  It must have drain holes to enable the water to flow through.  You will need to water them more often than when in the ground.  A container enables you to wheel your bougainvilleas into a garage or covered porch (or a conservatory if you’re lucky) for a month or 2 if you’re borderline zone 9b.  

Winterizing

If you must have one, see above.  We’re in zone 10a & can get a light frost for a night or 2.  They do just fine.  This winter was very mild for us but in colder years, more leaves have dropped off my plants & flowering hasn’t started as early.

When I lived in San Francisco there were 5 or 6 straight nights of frost years ago.  In many parts of the Bay Area, this knocked bougainvilleas out & they didn’t recover. We heard many sob stories at the nursery that spring!

Indoors

I have absolutely no experience in regards to this. Bougainvilleas need a lot of sun & heat so I imagine you wouldn’t get any blooms. There are many better houseplants you can choose if you want flowers.

Another thing I learned early on is that this colorful plant doesn’t make a good cut flower.  It wilts almost immediately.  Too bad because they scream “look at me!” when in full bloom.

Happy gardening & thanks for stopping by,

Signed by Nell Foster

Want to learn More About Bougainvillea? Check Out These Care Guides Below!

Plus These Gardening Tips!

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268 Comments

  1. Hi
    Hi I’m just north of you in Atascadero and I am obsessed with Bogie!! I get a lot of naysayers up here because we do get a big freeze I actually have six that have survived ! I question is right now they look super healthy I’ve been watering them a lot no flowering yet …. Should I fertilize? Should I stop watering for a while?

  2. Hi,
    I live near Laguna Beach CA–south of you in Santa Barbara.

    I planted a beautiful Miami Pink Bogie with trellis outside my patio wall and it was growing beautifully.

    Unfortunately, I have a very cruel and diabolical neighbor who knows how much I love bougainvilleas and she poisoned it. It died and was removed August 5, 2019. I would say she poisoned it some time in June because by July 15 it was really getting to be droopy and the brachs were drying out.

    I now have another one that I would love to plant in the same spot but I’m afraid the poison remains in the ground and I won’t ever be able to do that.

    Is there something that needs to be done to the soil to rid it of the poison she used?

    Is it safe to plant one there again?

    Thank you so much!
    Melanie

  3. Hi Melanie – Oh dear, that is a cruel neighbor. I don’t have experience with that but do know it can depend on what poison was used & how much of it. Some break down much faster than others & you may be able to plant next spring if winter brings rain. In extreme cases, the contaminated soil has to be removed. Here’s a post on planting bougainvillea: Nell

  4. Hi,

    I was just wandering i am looking to make a small hedge around my garden beds yousing a dwarf boug do i need to create a small wire line around the garden bed for it to cling to thanks

  5. Yes Jason, that would be best to keep them in the form you’d like. Just know that when you prune them into hedge form you don’t get much flowering. Nell

  6. Hi Nellg

    I live in the Palm Springs area, and I have several gorgeous Bougainvillea’s growing on my walls around my property. When the wind blows many of the leaves of the Bougainvillea find their way into my veggie garden where I grow squash and peppers. Question: Do I need to remove the leaves, or can I leave them be to use as mulch?

  7. Hi David – I let the fallen bougainvillea leaves gather around the base of my bougies because it helps retain moisture. I think they’d be fine in your veggie garden as long as they don’t pile up too high. Nell

  8. Hi Nell,

    Left a comment earlier, but it disappeared, sorry if this is a repeat.

    I have Bougain that is very thinned out, no bloom, or very little bloom. It bloomed wonderfully in spring and summer of 2013. The first year I bought the house in San Dimas, CA. But since then, my mom added a lot top soil to roots thinking it would help protect and drying out (to the height of the paint stick in the photos). After that, it was never the same.
    I have been gradually removing the built up of soil from root for past 3 or 4 years.Being careful not to damage the roots, but that was difficult since the dirt was so clumpy and stuck to the roots. It seems to be helping a little, but not as much as I hoped. Last month, I was so excited to see 3 individual bracts bloom red, something I haven’t since probably early 2015, alas they fell today.

    Looking at my google photos link (all taken today): https://PHOTOS.APP.GOO.GL/7DGZRAWS4DDRYT6I9

    Can this beauty still be saved (and bloom fully again)? Or Should I just start over? Do I need to remove more top soil? Since under the top layer it seems moist. Do I remove my timer watering stake? If so, should I instead water manually, every week, 2 weeks, monthly, or not at all? Should I trim it – which has never been done (to my knowledge since 2013). After reading a lot of your writing, I feel like I know a lot about the plant, but don’t know where to start and I don’t want to damage this plant further. Please help.

    Much Thanks!

  9. Luke – I can’t open the pictures. Maybe a local garden center can help. Nell

  10. Hi Nell,

    Thank you for the quick reply. Yeah, if you click on my name (above, previous post) it actually links to the photos. The type address must be missing a few letters, and didn’t work.

    Sure, Home Depot doesn’t seem very helpful. Maybe a local Armstrong Gardens would be better.

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