One of my favorite plants, and one that makes a huge statement in my Northern Israel container garden is the Bougainvillea vine, which always pleases! Because we can get quite cold winters, the only Bougainvillea that really is hardy, especially in a container, without a doubt, is the magenta pink one, and that is just fine, because it is truly gorgeous! Here I've photographed for you the very first bloom of the year, which happens after a leafless winter of dormancy, and while these flowers will just keep on blooming for the next 6 months or so it is exciting to see them come back to life.
For those who live in snowy locations, Bougainvillea can be grown as a houseplant, or wintered in a greenhouse, or maybe just plan lots of trips to the Mediterranean, or Northern California (funny enough, where I'm from.....) where bougainvillea also does quite well. Ah yes, and Southern California as well and I'm guessing Arizona and New Mexico. What ever you decide to do, I do recommend including some Bougainvillea in your life, maybe in the form of a future painting of mine, hmmm?
So very lovely!
And one can enjoy the view and the flowering vine at the same time!
And here friends, is the huge pot (that is about to get a paint job right after Passover) that holds one of my Bougainvillea vines, together with the skeleton of one that didn't quite make it, but gives support to the flowering one. Though in photos the black silohuette of the dead branches looks a bit messy, in person it really is not noticable, so I'll just have to go with that!
Happy spring gardening!
