When to plant bougainvillea?

Bougainvillea is a climber of exceptional beauty: when it blooms, its colorful bracts (often mistaken for petals) cover it almost completely. It can be very difficult to distinguish the leaves from each other. But it is that, in addition, It is a very easy to grow plant that only wants regular waterings and sun, too much sun. It is able to withstand cold and even mild frosts, what more could you ask for? If you want to color your garden, then we will tell you when to plant bougainvillea.

In this article we are going to tell you all the characteristics, care and when to plant bougainvillea.

Key features

La bougainvillea is a climber that it can reach a height of up to 12 meters, which behaves as expired in temperate-cool climates. It does not have tendrils, but leans on tree trunks or walls to develop its long stems. This means that if we want to have it in the garden we must provide you with support, which must be resistant, such as a robust wooden lattice or, even better, a fence.

The scientific name for this plant is bougainvillea. The origin comes from the tropical and humid forests of the zones of Central America and South America. Although there are 35 described species of the bougainvillea family, only 18 species are accepted.

It is a shrub that has the characteristics of a perennial plant. It is usually used to cover walls, pergolas and fences. It has a system of quite sharp spikes through which other plants or different structures are housed in order to be able to spread out and cover most of the land. Bougainvillea gives a lot of play, since can be pruned into a rounded bush shape and it is divided as an extra point of decoration for your garden.

Leaves and flowers

If we look closely at these plants, we see that their stems are quite strong. They tend to be able to grow in almost any type of terrain, so it is not too demanding in terms of it. The branches begin to join everything in their path as it grows and spreads. Thanks to its spines that have a black waxy substance at the end, it can live almost anywhere. If we want the bougainvillea to spread along the walls to cover an area or serve as ornamentation, small wire hatchlings are usually installed so that the plant itself grows in that direction.

The leaves are usually deep green in color and have a simple constitution.  They are oval-type leaves that usually measure between 4-10 cm long and 2-4 cm wide.. However, despite the fact that the leaves have a beautiful appearance, what stands out the most are their flowers. Although we call bougainvillea flowers, they really are not. They are bracts that are surrounding the actual flowers that are very small and white in color. Bracts are modified leaves that look similar to flowers.

Bougainvillea plant cultivation

Before knowing when to plant bougainvillea, you have to know its care. If you want your plants to be able to decorate the walls or fences with beautiful colors, we simply have to take into account some aspects for the care of this plant. If we want to multiply it, the safest and fastest method is through cuttings. The first of all is to determine a place whose soil has humid characteristics and that can receive the sun directly. As it originates from warm places, it usually needs large amounts of direct sun so that it can flourish well.

We just have to choose the cuttings that have a hard and developed wood to carry out a previous rooting process. We must prepare a mixture of sand and peat seedling. We can impregnate the tips of our cuttings with hormone powder to improve rooting. This powder can be purchased from almost any type of nursery. The most important thing in this process is to place the seedling or the pots where we are going to place the cuttings in an environment that is completely controlled. That is, you will need an environment that has good humidity and light conditions. If we do all this process in good conditions, in just a few weeks they will have rooted and can be transplanted to the chosen place.

As we have mentioned before, it is not a plant that requires too much care since it has a high rusticity. We must know that it comes from tropical and humid forests, so it cannot stand too cold. It is convenient to cover the bougainvillea with a plastic tarp in the event that our climate is somewhat colder. It is only capable of withstanding a temperature of -3 degrees and for a short time.

Regarding irrigation, it presents some differences depending on the time of year in which we are. During the summer, you have to water this plant about once a week. Keep in mind that the soil must have good drainage to avoid waterlogging. On the other hand, during winter, irrigation is almost nil. We only have to water in case we see that the soil is dry due to lack of rain. Normally the rainfall in the region is sufficient.

When to plant bougainvillea

The most recommended time is in spring, when the risk of frost has disappeared until next winter, and before the plant has started to grow. However, when we buy it, it is usually already flowered, so if we extract it from the pot and put it in the ground, it is possible that it will have a bit of a bad time, unless we do not handle the ground bread much. Not to do it, it is important that, before removing it from the container, we tap it; this will make it much easier to extract the bougainvillea without the roots having to "suffer" much.

Once out, It will be time to plant it in the planting hole that we will have previously dug, in an area where it can have the stems in shade or semi-shade and the aerial part (leaves) in direct sun for a minimum of four hours. We hook it up to a tutor who will guide it to the area we want it to cover, and we water it thoroughly, soaking the soil well.

Now there is only one thing left to do: enjoy the plant! ?