Buganvillas culture

Perhaps the most colorful climbing bougainvillea, is known among us known as bougainvillea. Because it is a cascade of color in summer begins and ends well into the winter, when its beauty ceases to make way for a break devoid of leaves.
Although the most popular color of this beautiful plant is the bright purple flowers, now there are many other colorful, even more attractive and equally easy to care.
Its scientific name is Bougainvillea and results from the French explorer Louis de Bougainville, who introduced to Europe from Brazil, the country of origin, in the second half of the eighteenth century.
The plant is a strong climber with branches that can easily reach eight meters long, with straight or curved spines every few inches. Its leaves can be smooth or velvety light green in the variety Glabra and dark green in there also spectabilis Variegata, whose leaves are greenish white.

A decorative plant

As its long-flowering is maintained throughout the summer and into winter, with only the temperatures below zero degrees can be completed in a few hours with her, and, moreover, is very showy, bougainvillea serves as an excellent decoration and is used as a climber to cover walls, pergolas, pillars, emparronados and so forth.
They can also form as a shrub, with regular pruning, which is achieved an interesting effect, that of a patch of bright color in a garden. It is cultivated also in pots of appropriate size (70 inches in diameter and 70 deep), in greenhouses and terraces.
As far as form is concerned, there has been real sculptures of human figures and animals with this plant, guiding her through wire structures.
All the grace of the plant, in fact, rests on the mass of color that form their flowers.They are small, tubular, yellowish, united in threes at the tips of branches and each surrounded by three bracts (leaves of certain plants, different from the others by the way, the consistency and color) very appealing. Their colors may be purple, red, purple, violet, lilac, orange, brick red, white, late blight, pink or yellow.
In countries of origin consider the bougainvillea as the symbol of "pending", and perhaps because of this, preferably used to decorate the facades of the houses or the pillars of the hall.

Bougainvillea care

This exotic plant requires a warm climate and he needs to be exposed to direct sunlight. By the same token, can not bear the hardships of winter in cold areas, where that station will be transferred to the greenhouse. In areas where winter is not as raw as the center of the country can be kept outdoors during the winter, if you stand next to a wall to protect it, or cover with plastic is transparent, so it will not freeze.
With respect to the ground, has no requirements, adapting to any type, but you should fertilize with organic fertilizer in small amounts (two tablespoons) every two weeks during the months of October, November, December and January.
It is planted in late winter and reproduction done by stem cuttings a year, during the month of September, as it requires heat. This process is no less complicated than the plant needs long time to develop, so it is more advisable to purchase at a nursery, and about to bloom.
Reproduction is also done by seeds, but the bougainvillea needs high temperatures to produce, so it is difficult in most of the Chilean territory can be achieved.

The varieties of bougainvillea

One of the most widespread species is the Bougainvillea glabra, which is characterized by, dotted with thorn branches and adapts easily to the outdoors in warm climates. It pays to be grown in pots, protected under glass in winter. It includes several varieties of hybrids, with their extraordinary flowering
colors that cover virtually all of the rainbow. Undoubtedly, the best-known variety, which is found in most old houses in Santiago and the central area is the Sanderina purple.
If you are interested in plants with flowers of other colors, the best thing is to go to nurseries. You can not recommend certain varieties, which appear almost every season, as each player usually baptize their creations differently.Some of the specialist nurseries in the country's largest bougainvillea found in and near Quillota Maitencillo in the Fifth Region, very suitable places for the plant, for its climate. Worth a visit, they are a real feast for the eyes and can take advantage of getting a copy. Of course, you probably also find beautiful plants in your local nurseries cough, perhaps at a price slightly higher. Because if you want a waterfall of color in your garden, you have to grow bougainvillea in their field or in the house of the city.