Bougainvillea Species, Tree Bougainvillea

The pictures are of a Crape Myrtle, not a Bougainvillea,

I grew a thornless bougainvilea tree in my South Florida front yard. The tree was a marvel and attracted many neighbors' comments on how ...Read Morepretty it was. I even had a few neighbors that took photos in front of the tree when it was in bloom.

The tree had clusters of light-purple flowers that lasted for a very long time. The clusters would lose their color and fade to a light tan and become very paper-like. I usually cut the faded flower clusters off of the tree because they didn't usually fall off on their own.

Unfortunately a hurricane blew through my area and snapped my tree in half. I trimmed it up to reshape it and it grew back even fuller than before. I did, however, notice that the tree grew back WITH thorns on it's branches. It must have mutated after being beaten up...or else it was trying to defend itself after such a heavy trimming.

Alas, the tree succumbed to some unknown disease, bugs or whatnot.

Bougainvillea Arborea is the only true tree form of the Bougainvillea genera. It is fast growing, thornless and blooms off and on all yea...Read Morer rather than just in the cooler months like some of the Bougainvillea species. It is slightly more tolerant to wet feet than most of the other varieties. As the tree matures, the leaf color becomes much darker green than most other varieties and similar to the leaves of Bougainvillea Glabra (common purple Bougainvillea). Very low maintenance (fertilizer and irrigation) and mostly pest free like all Bougainvillea. Steve