Beautiful bougainvillea

Bougainvillea sprawls from the cut-glass vase that was my grandmother's from her wedding in 1927. I just love old stuff. Except I didn't like my old kitchen, so we remodeled a few years ago. This is my kitchen window before we remodeled. See the old wallpaper and "rugged" looking windowsill? Lovely.

Bougainvillea is showy and colorful and lovely. It's one of my favorite plants.

But while bougainvillea is beautiful, I have nominated it to my list of Plants That Take Over the World. They keep branching out and to such lengths that you feel like you constantly have to cut it back. But very pretty, so it's worth it. As long as you're wearing long sleeves and Playtex Living Gloves to guard against the plant's menacing thorns. Just believe me and wear the gloves.

My bougainvillea in the front flowerbed is struggling back after
unusually cold weather bit it back to ground level last winter.

In my front landscaping, bougainvillea is a graceful vine struggling back after a series of hard freezes last winter. Give it a few more weeks, however, and it will be back to a vibrant fuchsia, though you can find bougainvillea in many other colors including pink, lavender, red, gold and orange.

Have you ever looked at a bougainvillea up close? If so, you've probably noticed that what you thought were colored flowers are really papery leafy things. These are colored bracts, or modified leaves. The flowers are little white clusters surrounded by the bracts. I looked that up. Interesting.

Bougainvillea cascades across a cute armadillo lawn ornament
that I got from Mary Kate Bennett at her shop, Treasure Chest.

I also just found out that it's best to keep the branches 18-20 inches long for the best blooming.

Plant bougainvillea with plenty of room around it so that when it's full size it won't crowd other, more polite plants.

A long time ago, a co-worker told me that bougainvillea thrives when it is root-bound, thirsty and non-fertilized. This proved to be true. The perfect plant for me.