Friday, February 17, 2012
Flower Friday
I'm a huge fan of Bougainvillea. A large Bougainvillea in bloom is really a sight to behold, it's absolutely gorgeous. They'll actually grow relatively well even as houseplants when given a tonne of sun. The only downside for me is that they have thorns. For some reason thorns and I don't mix. I remember my first experience with a rose as a child. After staring at a lovely flower for about 20 seconds I realized I had grabbed the stem and had a thorn buried deep in my thumb. For some reason I don't remember what happened after that...
Thorns aside, this is one plant that I would love to have even though I know I'll be tempting fate. Some varieties even have variegated leaves and you can see that they come in a variety of colours. They grow readily from cuttings, so maybe I'll ask if I can start one. Enjoy the lovely blooms!
I knew that Bougainvillea existed, but I didn't really know what they were or what they looked like--I just knew people planted them in their yards and such. That ignorance vanished when I moved to Saudi Arabia. OMG they were everywhere on KAUST's campus. Huge trimmed bush-shapes, vining up trellises homemade by residents, double-blooming purple ones, white ones--well, that was about it, there wasn't a TON of variety of plant life in the landscaping over there, but the Bougainvillea were gorgeous. I tried rooting a cutting once, but I think it was too wet--it rotted. And then I left before I tried again.
ReplyDeleteNow I want some--but I don't have outdoor space (again). I think they probably aren't very good indoors--not that I think they wouldn't grow, I just don't think they'd be too happy.
So pretty! When I worked at Longwood Gardens they had about a dozen 100+ year old bougies growing in the conservatory. They were a sight to behold!
ReplyDeleteKenneth, well I'm glad you at least got to see them in person. I've only seen photos of established plants. The ones in the greenhouses are just a few feet tall. I think they actually lost about half of the cutting that were started. It's hard to get the watering schedule right for those things.
ReplyDeleteTom, that sounds absolutely gorgeous!
I accidently hit "delete" instead of "publish" for a comment by The Bloomin' Garden (http://thatbloomingarden.blogspot.com/) so here it is:
ReplyDeleteI love them as well. When I traveled to Arizona I was shocked to see them growing on all the boulevards, almost like weeds. If only they knew how we would give anything to grow one in our climate.