Bougainvilleas are quintessential tropical vines, known for their drought-tolerance and lavishly brilliant flowers. They originate from tropical South and Central America, where they’re called paper flowers. Bougainvilleas are rapid growers, flowering all year-round in the tropics and subtropics.
Vigorous, untrained cultivars can reach 30m, scrambling up and through other plants. We talk about the vibrantly coloured bougainvillea flowers but this isn’t quite right, botanically speaking. The flower itself is tiny, tubular and whitish and is produced in clusters of three, surrounded by the brilliantly coloured bracts.
Colours include pink, magenta, lavender, purple, red, orange, yellow or white. Some are two-toned and several varieties come with brightly variegated foliage. In mostdouble-flowered cultivars, the true flowers are replaced by even more floral bracts.
Bougainvilleas are trouble-free plants, robust and adaptable and they love warmth and sunshine. Traditionally grown over pergolas, their luminous colour can also be enjoyed in hanging baskets and containers, if growing the dwarf varieties. It’s just a matter of pruning them to shape two or three times a year. Bougainvilleas can be trained as bonsai and make bold house or patio plants, which is one way gardeners in frosty, temperate regions can enjoy their fiery colours.