Bougainvillea
Bougainvillea spectabilis
What look like petals are actually bracts — paper-thin and far longer-lasting than flowers. The drier it gets, the more it blooms.
- LightFull sun
- Waterevery 5 days
- CareEasy
- Max height120 cm
- PetsSafe
- HumidityDrought tolerant
How to care
The harsher the sun the better. The easiest of the flowering group: let the soil dry out completely before watering, roughly every five days. Overwatering gives you green leaves and no bracts — counterintuitive but true.
from₫340.000
Design this potDesign with this plant
Three glazes on the pot shape picked for this species. One tap opens the studio with that setup — change anything from there.
What it is, and who it suits
What look like bougainvillea's petals are actually bracts — paper-thin and far longer-lasting than a true flower, often holding colour for weeks at a stretch. It is the easiest of all the flowering plants in the catalogue, which runs against the usual assumption that flowering plants are fussy. It suits anyone who wants a bold splash of colour on a balcony without close monitoring, and it especially suits people who travel often — this plant prefers being under-watered to being fussed over.
Where to put it, and how much room to leave
The harsher the sun the better — this plant takes a full day of direct sun without flinching, and too little light is the number one reason it fails to flower. A south- or west-facing balcony or rooftop are both ideal. It can reach up to a hundred and twenty centimetres, the tallest of the flowering group in the catalogue, and its canes carry small thorns, so keep some distance from walkways and anywhere children play. It can be trained up a trellis or railing for a large spread, or pruned into a tidy bush shape if space is tight — it takes pruning very well.
The year-round rhythm
Let the soil dry out completely before watering, roughly every five days — and here is the key paradox of this plant: too much water gives lush green leaves and no flowers, while a bit of thirst makes it bloom harder. It sounds backwards, but it is a real biological trigger: the plant reads mild water stress as a signal to reproduce urgently. The soil just needs to drain well; it does not need to hold much moisture. It rarely needs feeding — one or two doses of phosphorus-rich fertiliser at the start of the flowering season is enough to trigger blooms, while heavy nitrogen feeding backfires by pushing leaf growth instead. Prune hard after each flowering flush to bring on the next one; this plant is nearly impossible to over-prune.
Which pot suits it
Size M for a young plant, L once the canopy has grown large or is being trained up a trellis. Terracotta is the single best choice in the whole catalogue for this plant: it drains very fast, exactly what helps the soil dry out evenly between waterings and trigger more flowering. Because the bracts come in vivid colours — red, purple, orange, pink — a neutral or dark glaze gives good contrast; avoid a glaze in the same tone as the flowers since the two would cancel each other out. The pot needs to be heavy and stable if the plant is trained tall, since a large canopy catches strong wind on an open balcony.
Three things that go wrong
Lush and leafy but no flowers for months on end: almost always overwatering — stretch out the interval and let the soil dry fully between waterings, and blooms usually return within a few weeks. Leaves yellowing and dropping in the cool season: normal for some varieties, a temporary rest before it leafs out again once it warms up, nothing to worry about. Long, sparse canes with few branches and few flowers: not enough pruning — a hard cut after each flowering flush is the only way to keep it bushy and blooming evenly. This species is pet-safe, though the small thorns on the canes are worth minding near a pet that likes to run and jump.
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