You often see bougainvilleas grown into large hedges or trained as a trellis in tropical climates. They love direct sunlight and plenty of warmth. They are fast growers and flower all year around. But not many people know, that they actually make wonderful and quite resilient houseplants.
The plant you see on the pictures is a bougainvillea I’ve had for years and maintained small, by having it root bound (which stuns the growth), and by trimming it. This is one of my most neglected houseplants and it’s shocking to me that it’s even still alive, let alone flowering consistently.
Bougainvillea ‘California Gold’ has beautiful rich golden-yellow bracts surrounding the tiny orange flowers in the center. This plant is almost always in bloom for me, but surprisingly, it flowers the heaviest in the winter. I grow it on an east facing window, where it gets several hours of direct light.
Bougainvilleas are native to eastern South America, and are extensively cultivated and hybridized. The flower bracts which are the main attraction, come in many different colors, most commonly in a bright magenta shade, but also lilac, orange, white and yellow. The foliage in some hybrids can be variegated.
Requirements:
Watering needs:
I recommend drying the plant out between watering. It seems to like drying out fully, then getting soaked in water for a bit, and then left to drain. I have severely neglected and dried out this plant before, but it kept coming back, thankfully. I have also overwatered it before and it lost some leaves to that, but still survived.
Light:
The more the better! This plant can be grown in full sun, so south windows are the best for it. You can grow it on east or west windows, but make sure it’s getting at least a couple of hours of direct sunlight in order for it to flower. I have tried growing it on a north facing window with no direct light, and it survived, but it ceased to flower. I have yet to see how it does under grow lights.
Humidity:
So far I haven’t notices any preference to humidity. Given the plant’s native environment, I would assume it likes it hot and humid. Either way, this plant doesn’t seem to be bothered by dry air at all.
Soil Type and Fertilizer:
Slightly acidic, well draining, and rich soil. I like to mix peat moss, perlite, some regular potting soil and compost (I use either cow or chicken compost). Keeping the plant root bound should encourage more flowering, and should help keep the root system healthy. For fertilizer, I use a very diluted generic fertilizer, but lately, I’ve been just removing the top layer of the soil and replacing it with fresh compost and peat moss mix. It seems to work well for me.
Propagation:
You can propagate bougainvilleas though cuttings, though make sure they are longer cuttings, or air layering. You can also bend one of the stems, make a small cut on the bark, and “plant” it back in the soil. That way it can take its time to root, without loosing access to nutrients coming from the mother plant. This way you can propagate larger sized pieces of the plant.
Other Care Tips and Personal Observations:
Bougainvillea ‘California Gold’ is a gorgeous plant. The bright, beautiful, golden yellow flower bracts look like paper origami. The plant flowers while young, and can be shaped however you want. I think it would make a nice bonsai specimen too. So far, I have not had any pest problems on this plant. It seems resistant to pretty much everything that has plagued my collection so far.
Streptocarpus thompsonii is a lovely little streptocarpus, that resembles a streptocarpella more so than a streptocarpus.
This is a wonderful sinningia hybrid. ‘Georgia Sunset’ x Machrostachya is a power house when it comes to blooming. It’s a very vigorous plant, and cuttings start blooming merely a month or two after rooting! The newly plated cuttings quickly grow a large tuber. Though its parent, Sinningia machrostachya, requires dormancy and flowers only during the summer, this hybrid, despite having a tuber, flowers year round and requires no dormancy. This is a very easy and vigorous plant to grow.
Propagation is very easy though cuttings. I have even propagated this plant through a leaf. The cuttings root both in water or in moist soil under high humidity. Newly rooted plants come to flower very quickly.
Pachystachys lutea, also known as lollipop plant or golden shrimp plant, is a great houseplant to add to your everblooming collection. It makes quite a showy bush with lush leaves. You can keep it small and in shape by pruning, or grow it out to a large specimen at 3 feet in a pot, more if planted in a greenhouse.
East/west or south windows are the best for this plant. Couple of hours of direct sunlight are ideal to keep the plant happy. They do tend to get leggy as they age, so a good light source and some pruning are essential to have a neat plant. I do take this plant out in the summer, and slowly acclimate it to higher light levels without any trouble.
Clerodendrum ugandense, also called Rotheca myricoides, and commonly known as Blue Butterfly Bush, is a wonderful plant to have at home. It’s not a fussy, high requirement plant, and it’s very rewarding to have. The flowers sport two hues of blue and truly resemble butterflies, especially the way they flock around the plant.
Clerodendrum ugandense doesn’t seem to have any special preference about the soil type. I grow mine in generic potting mix with extra sand/per-lite added to it and a bit of peat moss. It’s a moderate feeder, and requires regular fertilizing from spring to fall. A generic fertilizer should be fine. As usual I would suggest fertilizing with more diluted than the recommended solution.
Euphorbia milii is a very easy plant to grow, that thrives on neglect and puts out a colorful display of bracts around the unnoticeable flowers. The crown of thorns, generally blooms heavy in the winter and intermittently throughout the year. However when you have a large specimen plant it’s more or less a continuous bloomer. Interestingly enough light during the night time can disrupt the flowering cycle of this plant according to Tropica Nursery.
The plant tolerates well being re-potted lower than the original level it was in its old pot. Euphorbia milli can get leggy and the higher the light, the better the plant growth and flowering habit.
Episcia ‘Suomi’ is a little gem of a plant. It is a bit of a fussy episcia, but once you match it’s requirements it will rapidly grow out and flower profusely. It’s a very free flowering plant, and with the right condition, especially if grown under lights, will flower year round.
Epscia ‘Suomi’ loves to be watered. If you manage to keep the soil evenly moist, the air humid enough and the temperature warm, you can grow it outside of a terrarium as well. I’ve had some success growing it with a hygrolon strip through the soil, making sure the soil is kept constantly and evenly moist, and planted with some other high humility plants in the same pot to keep the humidity around Suomi high.
This espicia is a low light plant. If the light is too low, however, the leaves will get longer, and the plant will produce long stolons that plant themselves at a considerable distance from the main rosette. If the light is too high the leaves will be small and start curling up at the edges. I grow mine in a closed environment next to a west facing window where it doesn’t really get direct light (because it’s to the side of the window) but plenty of very bright indirect light. This plant flowers and grows profusely. I’ve grown this episcia with equal success on a north facing window and well grown up terrarium facing east. I have several episcias ‘suomi’ growing in multiple glass bowl set ups, where the plant adds its dark foliage and lovely yellow flowers to those mini-gardens.
This low light miniature is a terrarium plant to be admired. I will recommend growing it in a terrarium and propagating it, before trying anything else. Light level is also very important. It will grow at very low light levels, but you will not get much flowers out of the plant in that case. Bright indirect light, or artificial light is ideal. Episcia ‘Suomi’ can take some early morning or late evening light, but it will die if the light is too strong. It takes a bit of playing with the light levels to get the perfect amount, where it’s not enough to damage the foliage, but plenty to induce tons of flowers. Once you match its needs, this plant becomes a piece of cake to take care of, and its rapid growth and easiness of propagation will give you plenty of material to share, or experiment with.