How to Grow Bougainvillea Outside

Use Rose Gloves

The Tropical Grower is featuring some of Our Gardens oldest plants this week in How to Grow Bougainvillea Outside. If your Growing Tropical and want a hearty grower, leafy green all year with bursts of color most of it, Bougainvillea is gorgeous. But, if you’re opposed to thorns, you should think twice about planting one. They’re pokey.

Bougainvillea is a lovely trickster with shape-shifting abilities, growing as a vine, tree, or bush. You can literally find it everywhere where we live, but most especially around the Old Florida homes. Edison House, for sure, they were all about botany there and Hemingway’s down in the Keys, at least the last time I was there. Nothing says Old Florida like Bougainvillea. There’s a reason. It’s colorful, grows magnificently, and it comes back over and over even being broken and cut back to a trunk nub after storms. It also keeps almost everything away from it.

Color Forward

There are few things in Our Garden as colorful as the Bougainvillea. It’s a good thing because its job is to produce bursts of color, and it works hard most of the year. While Bougainvillea does bloom, their color comes from a modified leaf called a bract. They appear with new growth. So, if you want your Bougainvillea to be colorful, you don’t want it to bloom, necessarily, you want it to grow. Pull out the clippers and the Rose Gloves. You’ll find the tiny flowers hidden in the bracts. They come in white and yellow. Bonus!

All the Bougainvillea in Our Garden is a very hot pink or magenta color including My Son and Hannah’s plant, here temporarily. Their plant is very hot pink, even when it first opens. We have 2 plants similarly colored.

However, our other 2 open almost red, and hot-pink-out as they age. Hot Pink, sometimes called maroon (which seems so wrong) is the most common color, or maybe, I’ve just seen it around our area the longest. We were pretty excited when the purple started showing up.

Bougainvillea actually comes in a wide variety of colors including whites, yellows, oranges, pinks, pastels, blues, purples and even green. Our neighbor has a purple one growing over their fence that shows up in our pics sometimes, but you’ll mostly see the hot pink ones here. Since they generally have color, just a touch during the rainy season unless they’ve been cut back, we have bunches of pics. Ours are the most colorful right after the rains have stopped, both on the bushes and the ground around it.

The Basics

Bougainvillea is a tropical evergreen with small to medium heart-shaped leaves it constantly sheds and regrows. In Zones 9b – 11, you can plant them outside no problem. They tolerate full sun to partial shade, are tough hearty growers, and even tolerate drought, hear that desert dwellers? We drought here too. I’ve read they don’t like lots of water, they certainly don’t like living in standing water, but they don’t seem to have an issue with our 53 inches a year, although they are happiest in the dry season and planted in sandy soils to keep their roots dry even in the rains.

And despite the crazy color, they are not heavy feeders. We only do a single application of a neutral granular fertilizer in early Spring, mid-February for us. We like to use Osmocote Smart-Release Plant Flood. However, we do practice natural composting in all the beds, and add a helping from the pile when necessary, usually after a hard cut. We grow them in Black Sand, Yard Sand with compost, but they were planted in pretty much Yard Sand and the pot of starter compost. The rest comes from natural composting. For more on Natural Composting, Check out How to Compost at Home.

If you are further north, they will tolerate light frost, but I wouldn’t risk it. 25 degrees is about as low as they go. Plant them in a pot and move them to a warm area to winter. You can also grow them as an annual for the summer. I saw one at the Botanical Gardens in Fort Worth, TX a couple of years ago. It was a miniature shrub variety growing in a pot. I’m still wondering whether they grew it as an annual or wintered it indoors.

Bougainvillea is a hard stem vine, developing bark in addition to the thorns, as the plant ages. While the branches start off stiff and green which make them good for training, not great, they grow into very hard brown branches which will eventually harden further and develop bark. It will naturally send up additional main stems from the ground, and grow branches anywhere along any of the branches. Cutting it will send out 2 or more new branches. It resembles a brier patch, covered with pretty green and colored leaves.

Thorns

Did I mention the thorns? You should know and understand the negatives before you plant it. It’s the thorns. Down below the tropics line, we’re used to dealing with pokey. If it doesn’t come with thorns, many leaves form sharp edges. Bougainvillea is no exception. It has actual thorns, lots of them, completely covering every branch at intervals. Unlike Black Palm, it does have grabable areas without thorns if you’re very, very, very careful, but it’s always a risk. There are thorns and you do have to regularly trim it. Yes, with the thorns, and they’re nasty.

The tiny tip of each thorn breaks off under your skin if you’re unlucky and get poked. Every once and awhile, I’ll be stupid and grab, move, or trim the Bougainvillea without my Rose Gloves. It’s always a mistake. The #1 Tip for growing Bougainvillea is invest in a pair of Rose Gloves, or other thorn resistant pair, before or at the same time as your plant. You’ll be thankful. They take most of the dread out of working with the pokey branches.

Supports Needed

Don’t mistake their size or crazy growth for stability, Bougainvillea needs support. It can get big enough for the many branches to support each other, and it can be trained to support itself, but it does need support. You need to decide right up front, at planting, what you are going to use. The plant itself or an outside support.

While they do claim to have some miniature shrub varieties, these will also, not so much climb as there is nothing sticky about the plant, but intertwine with anything next to it and grow big in an upwards direction. Basically, the thick thorny branches will take over any support. But before that happens, you’ll have to use some sort of a fastener when it’s small to keep it on the support until it grows onto it. The alternative is training the branches to tangle and climb each other. This can be done as a central trunk for a clean ‘tree’ look or in an area of branches for a more large shrub feel.

Choosing the Right Support

While you can use any support when it’s very young, stake, stick, fencing, the branches are going to get long, thick, and heavy. Your options are to keep it trimmed small or provide it heavy supports. Otherwise, it will eventually fall over and root an entire area, or you will be fighting the thorny branches out of the paths. Not fun.

My mom used the perimeter chain link fence for the original 2 plants. While it did provide a very sturdy support for many years, one plant eventually fused with the fence and the other tried to pull it over. So, a fence, you want to continue to do its job as a fence, isn’t your best option for a support. However, a single fence post planted for the specific purpose of a support and nothing else works really well if you’re looking for your plant to get big.

Posts, heavy trellises, or hooks will all work to help hold your Bougainvillea upright. You want something not just sturdy but heavy. It doesn’t have to be pretty, the plant will totally cover it, as long as it stands up to weight and abuse.

Posts or Arbors

Plant the main stem upright next to the post. Use wrapped wire, plastic tape, a purchased fastener, or other tie to secure the main stem to the post in several places, making sure the whole stem is secure. Pull any additional branches or stems coming out of the ground through the existing vegetation until it is growing on the opposite side of the main branch from where it emerged.

As the branches grow long, pull the whole branch back through the middle of the vegetation to grow on the other side. Doing this to all the branches allows them to grow together as a large intertwined mass supporting each other. While you can do it without the post, it is very unstable and falls over in everyday storms as soon as it starts to grow. We tried this with the one out by the pool. It’s almost as old as the really big ones in Our Garden, but it’s barely reached 6 feet this year. Until the trunk is big enough, it’s prone to main stem breakage.

Using the main post of arbors works the same. Once it starts to grow, pull the branches over the cross beams. You can either trim it short or trail the bigger branches to form trailing tufts of color.

Trees

We see these in stores all the time. My Son and Hannah bought theirs when they lived in Gainesville, FL. Even though we saw it everywhere when we went to visit, they had a difficult time keeping it alive because it’s a subtropical zone and not a tropical one. Some years are like that. It didn’t like the cold, but it’s super happy in Our Garden. While it’s going to its new home this month not far and shouldn’t have a problem, I’m glad it lived here because I learned how to create the ‘tree’.

Yes, it came with a Rebar stake. Basically, the post method with the main branch. But instead of pulling the branches through the other ones, you twist it around the main center stem candy cane style. You want straight, unforked stems, so get them when they’re young and green.

Bend the branch up carefully, parallel, side-by-side, to the main stem and wind it tightly around forming a thicker main stem. Repeat with a new branch. Once you have a number wound together around the main one, let it grow. They will grow together into a sturdy center trunk. As it grows, every once and awhile, add another branch or 2. Tree.

Trellis or Fencing

You’ve probably seen what looks like walls of Bougainvillea growing up the sides of houses and buildings, or what looks like fences of it. It’s done with heavy trellises and chain link fencing. The trellises are usually ugly made of pipe or rebar for stability. That pretty white hatch fencing is added around the outside for effect. Tip: Don’t grow it on the decorative stuff, Bougainvillea will damage it.

Do not try to grow this up your house or structure. It will damage them. Attached a trellis for it to climb. The many thick branches make it a breeze. Attach the main branch to the trellis, and insert or pull branches over the cross beams as it grows. Cut it away from anything it can damage, house, cars, children, pets, other plants. It’s pokey.

Remember

There are 2 things you’ll need to remember: 1) trim it short next to the trellis or fence, and 2) trim any really thick branches growing through that might damage your supports. Bougainvillea is a vine. The branches are going to want to grow long. They can either grow long up or long out. If they grow long out, it puts stress on your overall trellis, and it can fall over.

You also want the thickest branches growing up the trellis and not through it. Once it’s through, it won’t have any place to go. Don’t forget, these things grow thick and heavy. The branches will merge with the supports or break them if given the chance. A break comes from a tight weave of less sturdy material like wood, or it merges with thicker metal material like chain link. So if you have your heart set on the white 1 x 1 Old Florida Trellises, it’s not the best idea. Bougainvillea will tear it up as the plant ages. Try growing it up a pole beside the trellis and trailing it over a top brace. Be prepared to trim regularly.

Brackets & Big Hooks

My mom added a Bracket with hooks to the house when the Bougainvillea close to it got big. It kept falling over onto the brick patio and whacking the screen. It’s not my favorite option. It absolutely provides a place to tie it off up high. It can grow tall with long branches falling everywhere, away from the house and over everyone’s head. It’s quite spectacular, and a pain to upkeep.

You do not want Bougainvillea growing where it can whip into the house or other structures like the screen cage. The thorny branches will cause damage. Hooking it to the house creates a problem if you don’t put a regular trim on the schedule. Ours actually pulled the bush to grow away from our lanai screen, but I still have to trim any branches that grow on the house side all the time. I need to do it right now. It was a fix to a problem created by planting Bougainvillea too close to the house. It just got too big. Keep that in mind.

Shrub

As I mentioned above, you can free form a shrub. The actual shrub varieties merely need a regular trim and nothing to take over to stay that way, but the big ones can grow this way too.

Our original plant that tried to take down the fence, grows as a shrub on its own, after having been cut out of the fence. It had support while it grew the big 3 inch trunks, many of them, all the branches now supporting each other. It takes a long time, and many trims. The plant still wants to take over the fence, and the Anniversary Tree, but it is an extremely large shrub. There is an area of main branches.

Confining it to one main stem with several large branches at the bottom, all pulled through the bush, helps keep it confined to a more traditional ‘shrub’ area. It will also help stunt the growth. Cut any additional main stems that grow out of the ground. It’s helpful if you want to confine it to an area, not so much if you need it to be bigger. This method works really well in pots.

For more on training your plants to do fun or useful things, check out How to Train Your Plants.

Miniature Shrubs

I will mention here the commercial landscapers decided to add the miniature shrubs to their mix around the area about 5 years ago. Since these areas are a little too meticulously maintained, it seemed like a good idea.

They work well in center medians, away from sidewalks, but we are going to call ‘Fail’ when they stuck them into pots and little sidewalk cutouts next to doors. They grew out and poked people before they were trimmed. Remember, trimming makes them grow. So they added little trellises, and they got even bigger, poking more people. They were pretty, for a bit. And it was an interesting experiment to watch. Don’t plant these near doors or sidewalks, unless you want to poke people.

Compost

Since these things need to be trimmed regularly, the clippings need to go somewhere. Do yourself a favor and just send them to county compost.

I wheel our bins right over to the plants and cut directly into the bins as much as possible. It can be fun trying to jam as much of the attached branch in, before I cut it. I have actually flung an entire bin across the yard, sling-shot style, with a big heavy branch. Laughing about it now is the only option. It was pretty funny, even at the time. Picking up the branches again, not so much.

The problem is the thorns don’t exactly break down once the branch is removed from the plant. The branch will break down, but the thorns survive for a very long time. I pick them up often in the soles of my shoes still attached to little sticks when I work around the bushes. For this reason, we do not put the branches into compost. Planting bare handed is normal, weeding as well. No one wants to dig around and pull up a handful of thorns, or even worse, one under the fingernail. Ouch! The pretty pink bracts all over the ground on the other hand, those eventually turn brown and are perfect for compost.

Propagating, Making Babies

I’m not going to lie, these are not easy to propagate. In fact, none of our normal cutting methods work well at all. I’ve seen it done. 6 inch cutting in spring, prune, rooting hormone, plant, and cover with a plastic bag. Occasionally, we might get one. It rarely makes it to planting.

You would think there would be seeds and baby plants all over Our Garden with all the color and blooms we get from our mature plants. Nope. I’ve never seen a baby Bougainvillea anywhere in Our Garden we didn’t plant. Ever. Weird, right? Almost everything else seeds or spreads. It’s great for clean-up, not so much if we want more plants.

Supposedly, there are seed pods that form where the flowers used to be. Ugh, okay. Never seen one. Maybe I just don’t know what I’m looking for. I’m told the seeds are tiny. It should come as no surprise I’ve never grown one from seed, but I have actually taken a number of successful cuttings from the old growth branches.

Big Old Growth Branches

When I cut the big 2 and 3 inch branches out of the fence, I threw them into a planting bed at the bottom of the drainage ditch, just threw them there on their sides. It was laziness, not going to lie. They needed to be removed. I was tired and forgot about them. So they sat. Lots of water, lots of leaf mulch, no standing water. And, most of them rooted and began growing branches. Then, Hurricane Ian hit. The flooding killed everything.

Good and Bad. They were all dead, but I knew how to get more and Ian gave us many old growth branches to try again. Since the flooding in the drainage ditch continued for a bit, I threw the logs in the compost area bed. It’s actually in front of it, screening, and was formed from the old compost area when I moved it back. It also has irrigation.

They Rooted!

Most of the cut trunk sections rooted, but I was busy and didn’t get to them until I only had 4 left. The rest died. Dang. The live ones were dug up and potted using the candy cane tree style. While I believe I killed one of them, no new leaves, the rest seem to be growing okay by the back fence, with irrigation. We had to install a drip system back there for all the new plantings.

We also removed a huge branch from the Bougainvillea by the house when it fell. There was the tiniest inch or so root on it. So, it was stuck in a giant pot. It rooted and is also growing by the back fence. It has bracts on it, currently. The thing to remember when replanting Bougainvillea, the roots are surprisingly fragile for such a hearty plant. Handle them with extreme care.

Maintenance

Trim regularly to keep your plant colorful and from reaching out to poke things with its thorns. Because the long thick branches are heavy, it will also help keep stress off the supports. You don’t want everything falling over.

Pay attention to when the branches start to produce bracts. Snipping off the ends usually causes the plant to produce bigger bushier tufts of bracts. We don’t usually have to do anything. My Mom commented they look like the whole bushes are stuffed with bouquets of flowers this time of year. She’s right. Didn’t do a thing. The rains stopped.

We don’t have much in the way of weeds. Occasionally, one will find its way through all the bracts, leaves, and natural composting, but it isn’t often. We sweep everything into beds around the bases of the plants. Make sure a little of the green stuff falls in there when trimming. Sweep some more, and you have natural composting, working mostly on its own under the thorny canopy. We love that.