Palm & tropical · North Texas care guide
Bougainvillea spp.
Nursery Pro tip: A patio pot plant for us, not a landscape shrub — it blooms hardest when slightly dry and root-bound. Bring it in below freezing.
Sheets of magenta, orange, purple or white papery bracts all summer on a thorny tropical vine — the most color per square foot of anything we sell, and a true annual here unless you overwinter it. Almost always grown in a pot or hanging basket.
Full sun, the more the better — six hours minimum or you get leaves instead of color. Excellent drainage. A hot patio, a south wall, a pot by the pool. It has real thorns, so keep it off high-traffic paths.
Spring, after nights warm up. It hates root disturbance: slip it out of the nursery pot with as little handling as possible into a pot barely larger, in a fast-draining mix.
Here's the trick — let it dry out between waterings. A bougainvillea kept evenly moist grows lush and green and never blooms; one that wilts slightly and then gets a good soak blooms nonstop.
A bloom (high-phosphorus) fertilizer every three or four weeks in summer. Avoid high nitrogen.
Trim after each bloom cycle to shape it; it flowers on new growth, so cutting back brings more color. Wear gloves and long sleeves.
Frost kills it — bring the pot into a garage or bright room below about 40°F, water it very little all winter, and set it back out in April. Too much water or fertilizer means no bracts.
A patio pot on its own, on a trellis against a hot wall, or a hanging basket with sweet potato vine.
Written for Rockwall's black clay, heat and winters by the Landscape Source team. Every yard is different — bring a photo by, or ask LS-Ai, and we'll tailor it to your spot.