Tale of 2 Bourgainvillae
By mjb
8 comments
We have holidayed in Greece for the last ten years and the best plant by far for me is the Bourgainvilliae. The colours are deep reds or pale lilacs and they look like they are made of tissue paper. They seem to grow any where, side of houses, over walls, I even saw one growing on a building site between a cement mixer and bricks. Safe to say they do not seem to need a lot of help to grow in Greece. But for us here they can be bit difficult.
I have 2 bourgainvilas and both are potted.( I know they are not frost tolerant so we bring them in.) My wife bought me the first one, 3 years ago and I have kept it indoors. At first it just grew leaves and then died back. (My philosophy with plants is they have 2 chances, so I gave it a second chance.) This year it managed to grow a flower which was beautiful (I was so happy) and has lasted since April and now has just dropped. No sign of anything else though.I think that next year maybe 2 flowers?
Plant no 2 we have just bought from Homebase which was in their sale/damaged plant section (original priced at £19.99 but now £4.99, bargain) it looked sad but had a good amount of small buds. My wife has given it some TLC and it is now thriving. This one we keep on the patio. The problem is that we always seem to get conflicting information from labels, books and instructions about plants. The one indoors says keep indoors partial shade etc. the other says outdoors is OK and full sun and don’t worry about watering too much. So we shall see.
10 Jul, 2009
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Welcome to GoY, mjb. Us GoYers are a simple lot we do need pictures to keep our attention focused :~))
10 Jul, 2009
Hi Mjb welcome to GoY, yes some plant tags have very differing info on them and can be confusing.
Hi Ian (now I'm folowing you) I agree we do like to look at pics. And in my case it's emphasis on the simple :o))))
10 Jul, 2009
Its all Bobs fault :~))
10 Jul, 2009
Well now if you guys want pictures I have lots of them. I will take a picture of the Bourgainvillae and post it here the others I will put on the gallery. To be honest I am not really a know all when it comes to naming flowers and plants. What I do know is they are really beautiful and the colours they show are truly remarkable. So ifyou see any of mine with wrong names I opologise.
Many thanks for your comments.
10 Jul, 2009
Hey Mjb, If I can get away with calling one of mine a "purple one" then I'm sure there won't be any problem if you get some wrong. Some kindly sole will offer an alternative. :~))
10 Jul, 2009
Oh Mjb I don't know the names of most of my plants (and that's the common names, not the 'real' names), but I have learned a great deal from belonging to GoY and that's why I enjoy it so much and I'm sure you will too.
As far as Homebase is concerned I think most of their plants should be in the sale/damaged section as they don't seem to have a clue about looking after them. Never mind, great for us because as you say, with a bit of nurturing they can do really well.
10 Jul, 2009
I have now added the picture and as you can see it is now a very healthy plant. These flowers look very delicate, as if they are made from tissue paper. They also seem to last forever.
13 Jul, 2009
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I like the colour of Bourganvillae. I didn't know you could get different shades though. I wish you'd shown us a photo of yours. - never mind, perhaps you would put one on the general photo page :o)
Welcome to GoY. I hope you enjoy it.
10 Jul, 2009