Bougainvillea flowers

Brilliant Bougainvillea

Posted on by Ann Mackay

Although it’s late autumn, there are still some flowers in our conservatory. We treat it as an ‘indoor garden’ rather than as a sitting room and try to have a few plants in there all year. (We haven’t actually got that many yet – I’m working on it!)

The most eye-catching of the flowers there are those of a young bougainvillea plant. This is just its second year and it has been well covered in flowers. (So has the floor – I seem to be always sweeping them up.) I love the showiness and flamboyance of the bright flowers – really I should say bracts, rather than flowers.

Apart from the glorious colour, these have a nostalgic attraction for me. My parents spent over 20 years in Spain when they retired, and had exactly the same colour of bougainvillea growing by their front door. So this bougainvillea brings back happy memories of spending time in the sun with Mum and Dad.

Seeing bougainvillea in flower in Spain always made me wish I could grow it too. There was a garden centre close to my parents’ apartment and I frequently went there to buy plants for their garden. That was a great excuse for spending ages wandering around looking at all the exciting and (to me) exotic-looking flowers, shrubs and trees. (If you’ve been reading this blog for a little while, you’ll know that time spent discovering plants makes me happy.)

The bougainvillea flowers will soon be gone from my plant, but I’ll look forward to seeing them again next year and to the sunshine that comes with them too. By then, I hope we’ll all be able to get out and discover the things that make us happy.

Bougainvillea flowers

Published by Ann Mackay

Photographer, mixed-media art adventurer and completely daft about plants.......

13 thoughts on “Brilliant Bougainvillea”

  1. WHen Mary BEth retired many years ago, she had to stop working for an illness, one of her gifts was a Bougainvillea. It was beautiful but we don’t have an indoor space suitable and it would never survive one of our winters so it found a new home in a warmer zone. As always, this is a lovely high key image and the diaphanous quality of the petals work so well. A very lovely shot, Ann. 🙂

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    1. Thank you Steve! It’s a shame that Mary Beth wasn’t able to keep her bougainvillea but I bet the recipient was delighted. I wasn’t sure how ours would do in our conservatory because it gets very little heat but it survived. Hope it does this winter too!

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    1. Thank you Indira! I’ve enjoyed seeing the splash of colour they’ve given in my favourite place to sit and have a coffee! 🙂

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    1. Thanks Stephanie! I think that association with holidays is a large part of the appeal of bougainvillea. It’s a feel-good plant! 🙂

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  4. Bougainvillea runs rampant here, and more than a few people I know actually grump about the need to constantly keep trimming it back. They’re all beautiful, but my favorite color might be the salmon. They remind you of Spain; for me, they recall the Bahamas and Virgin Islands. I’ve always wished Winslow Homer had painted them more than he did; he captured the Caribbean spirit as well as anyone.

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    1. My parents’ bougainvillea needed a lot of trimming too – but I don’t think mine will. I remember seeing a lovely purple one but have never seen it for sale in the UK – would love to grow that one!

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  5. The Bougainvillea is one of the flowers I actually have grown in my yard. Mine were not particularly hardy, but the flowers were beautiful. I love the bright pink. Glad you get to enjoy yours indoors – I am sure it likes that! Nice images. Syd

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    1. Bougainvillea colours are amazing, especially the bright pink and the purple. Seeing the flowers always makes me think of holidays. 🙂

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