Bougainvillea Plant Care

Bougainvillea plant is one of the classiest vines you can grow.Bougainvillea plant are tough woody shrublike vines that climb up vigorously and grows numerous colorful flowers. Although bougainvillea plant is tropical it can also be grown in cold areas. Bougainvillea flower is very attractive yet exceptionally unusual.The colorful array that we usually notice are not actually the bougainvillea flower but the papery bracts that surrounds their tiny white or sometimes a yellow-white waxy flowers.

Bougainvillea plant should be planted in areas with lot of sunlight. Full sunlight is necessary for them to bloom. Sufficient watering is needed and keep the soil moist. Too much water may kill your bougainvillea plant for their roots are so sensitive and rot easily in soaking wet soil. Although bougainvillea plant is usually used in landscaping it is also a great flowering bonsai material. This bougainvillea shohin bonsai stands about 10 inches and is the upper part of this bougainvillea shohin bonsai propagation. I left this bougainvillea plant undisturbed for a year and use the technique called root escape method. This technique enables this bougainvillea plant to grow much faster. I'm already satisfied with the height and the trunk girth and I will be focusing now on ramification. I will be pruning this bougainvillea plant more often to encourage branching. You might want to see this bougainvillea progression pictures here.

Bougainvillea Shohin Bonsai Propagation

Thursday, March 15, 2012 Admin No comments

Just an update of my previous post (Future Plan) to get two shohin bonsai. The upper trunk of this specimen has a great potential to become another shohin bonsai because it has taper and a nice trunk movement. You can propagate bougainvillea through cuttings (soft or woody cuttings) and air layering. In my own opinion woody cutting at around 2 inches in diameter is the best, easy and the fastest way to propagate bougainvillea bonsai which can readily be use a shohin bonsai specimen.

Air Layering and Thread Grafting - Bougainvillea Bonsai Cutting 7

Friday, February 24, 2012 Admin 2 comments

This was an update of Bougainvillea Cutting (7)

Feb 2012

This specimen was almost two months now after the cutting was made and she's growing nice and healthy. Also done pruning to promote new growths. The trunk doesn't look that appealing because it was long and slender and no taper at all. I will do an air layering to shorten the trunk and at the same time grow a sacrificial branch right above the air layered portion to thicken the base of the trunk by a technique called thread grafting.

Bougainvillea Cuttings

Saturday, February 04, 2012 Admin 8 comments

These are some of the Bougainvillea hardwood large cuttings that I made. Most of the cuttings are relatively big and woody at about 1 to 3 inches in diameter. Because of a limited space in our front yard, I'm aiming to grow and train all the cuttings as shohin and mame bonsai at around 6 to 10 inches tall. Some of the hardwood cuttings that I made specially the really big ones are not yet showing any signs of new growth. Most of these cuttings came from these parent bougainvillea (Bougainvillea Pre-Bonsai 1 and Multiple Trunk Style Bougainvillea) and they are a month old now and growing nice and healthy. I can say that I have a success rate of 70% with all the cuttings that I made.

Some useful tips:

Use a clean cutting tools.
Make the cut clean and parallel to the trunk.
Use some rooting hormone of your choice (optional)
Be sure not to plant your cuttings upside down.
After planting your cuttings to a suitable rooting media of your choice immediately water it and cover your cuttings with a plastic bag to retain moisture. Occasionally check and water if necessary.
Place your cuttings under a shaded area.
When new shoots arise, gradually open the plastic bag by making a small cut every other few days or so before you totally uncover it.
Wear appropriate gloves before working with your cuttings to avoid hurting yourself with those sharp thorns.