Bougainvillea is one of those quintessential “Mediterranean” plants and a Must-Have to cover courtyard walls or fences in large, bright, pink, purple, red, or orange flowers all through the summer.
Bougainvillea is generally not frost-hardy and since we do get some frost in this area I chose the variety “Violet de Mèze” at the yearly spring plant sale 2024 at the Abbaye de Fontfroide. This variety is hardy to -7℃ and also grows a little less tall than most other Bougainvilleas (5×2 meters instead of 8×6 meters).
I planted it into a large container on our South-facing terrace where it gets full sun from late morning to the middle of the afternoon. In 2024 it grew well and flowered prolifically from July through August, then the flowers faded. After cutting off the faded flowers I obtained somewhat of a re-bloom in October.
We did not yet have a gutter on the shed roof on the wall, so the pot took on quite a bit of water in winter and spring, although I tried to keep most of it covered when it rained. In February I cut the Bougainvillea a little here and there and when things warmed up in April it started growing very rapidly. I watered it when soil was dry (every three to seven days, depending on the weather) and fed it once a week.
Until the middle of July it wasn’t really working out though. Lots of big, droopy leaves but only very few flowers and oodles of white mealybug or aphid colonies. In August it finally took off and lots of gorgeous flowers appeared that are now, mid-September, beginning to fade. While mealybugs/aphids are still proliferating all over the ends of the branches.
A bit of a mixed bag then. It MAY be “a pot thing” and I MAY plant the Bougainvillea out in the garden – there’s the very sunny East wall that needs greening… Bougainvillea, planted out, is supposed to be very drought tolerant – once established… stay tuned.
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