Anyone have experience with bougainvillea?

[Rajah]

And no, I don't know if I spelled that right.

I've got 2 bougainvillea that I'm about to plant in a large planter, and I'm wondering how to encourage one of them to branch more (it has 3 long branches while the other is shorter with a lot of branches and blooms). I'm sure there's a way, but I can't find that info.

Also, what does it mean to "pinch tips to encourage growth"??

I want to encourage both of these to become smaller but *fuller* plants.

(Ditto on my oleander and plumbago)

 

[amid chaos]

Rajah...when we lived in the carribbean we noticed this stuff growing EVERYWHERE wild and it always seems to be blooming...gorgeous colors too.

A couple years ago I bought one that has been trained into a tree shape...inside in the winter, outside in the summer. i havent had any luck getting it to bloom for me, but it's not dead, so that's good...LOL

Pinching the new growth means just that...pinch off the new leaves, sprouts, whatever. it will then get bushier instead of taller.

 

[Rajah]

But wouldn't that keep it from blooming?

Or will it encourage it to create more leaves and stuff on the existing branches and that's where it'll bloom?

 

[marlasmom]

The more I prune mine the bushier they get. However I would encourage you to the bouganvilla (sp?) in the ground - the plumbago and oleander as well. Oleander gets VERY BIG if you let it and plumbago spreads but doesn't get very tall.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We have tons of it growing around down here in the Valley. It grows pretty fast too. Seems like I'm always cutting it back from our yard. And I agree-if you cut it back, it grows bushier. Comes in lots of neat colors-for the first time next to our new house is red bougainvillia, not the usual maroon/rose colored red I've seen, this is a bright tomato colored red bougainvillia.