Bougainvillea: Myriad of Colours

Bougainville is a tropical and sub-tropical ornamental flower which belongs to the family Nyctaginaceae. This tropical trailing plant can be grown in containers and is perfect for hanging baskets. Bougainvillea has established itself around the world as one of the most oftenly used decorative garden plant. Since its discovery in the 18th century in Brazil, it has become very popular around the globe because of its beauty and grace. This plant is named after A. Louis de Bougainvillea who located the impressive plant that has turned out to be one of the most famous plants all over the world. The plant brings a myriad of colours and life in its leaves and flowers. The plant exhibits versatility, which allows it to blossom throughout the year.

Bougainvillea plant is one of the most popular ornamental plant in whole of the world. Since this plant requires very little care, it may be used in landscaping. Bougainvillea also has thorns that makes it a little unsafe for anyone to touch it. It has adorned the homes and gardens of countless people. It can be easily seen, a bougainvillea planted in the divider of roads. They can be seen along highways as well as in parks. They provide decorative shrubs in almost every villa and are available in the public areas. These flowers can be seen hanging from terrace, and from ledges in neighborhoods. And what a sight it is, full of colours and blooms all around. So spectacular that no one can ever forget that image from his mind.

The most common variety of bougainvillea is the paper flower. This variety has bracts that look like paper and because of this, it gets the name “paper flower.” These bracts may be of many different colours like pink, orange or white. In the center of the bracts is the beautiful, small white flower.

Bougainvillea, inspite of being so full of features, could be a pain in the neck sometimes. Its planting may be suitable in some places while unsuitable in others. Bougainvillea flourishes in warmer areas and suffers when frost is encountered. Any temperature below -3 celsius, can harm the plant. It has to be grown in complete exposure to the sun. It is best grown in spaces like a fence or a wall and needs to be tied to a structure. If planted in the ground, it needs plenty of space to spread its roots out. Its rapid growth makes it messy in small gardens. That is why it can be excellent in a major land area but poor in such areas. One of the most common mistakes is to grow a Bougainvillea plant near an entrance. It is very unsafe to use them in a path because of its thorns.

In any situation, planting a Bougainvillea is a very tough task. I won't recommend, any person who does not have much time for gardening and who desires his garden to be neat, to grow a Bougainvillea. But, if properly grown, the different shades of Bougainvillea can make your backyard very special.