Contentsthe tropics have endowed northern latitudes with many ornamental plants. Sparing no time and effort, breeders seek to tame exotics to live in extreme conditions. Growing bougainvillea and caring for her is an exciting experience.
Climatic conditions for the growth of bougainvillea
A small tree, shrub, vine with prickles - this is a description of bougainvillea. At home in Brazil, the plant blooms 9 months a year. Decorative flowers are not bracts. They have a different shape, large, bright, from lilac to white. Behind the riot of color, like paper, plates, at times, leaves are not visible.
Of the 18 existing species, it was possible to acclimatize and obtain hybrids from several varieties of bougainvillea:
- is beautiful;
- Peruvian;
- naked.
The plant loves space, lots of light and warmth. Moreover, the temperature below +5 C for the roots of the plant is unacceptable. Reducing the temperature to 0, even for a short time, is destructive for a guest from the tropics. Where on earth can survive a plant in natural conditions? Only in the southernmost latitudes of Crimea, on the Black Sea coast.
There, in natural conditions, you can admire the beauty of lianas and bushes of bougainvillea by garden planting and caring for landscaping. In other regions, potting cultivation is used for decoration with carrying out for summer maintenance in the garden. You can create compositions in the winter gardens and greenhouses. But it is a protected ground with adjustable climate.
Bougainvillea in the Moscow region gratefully accepts relocation to fresh air when the threat of recurring frosts is over. But the flowering period is short. In September, the plant must again be kept from cooling. But the spectacle of flowering exotic pays for all the complexities of its content. Sometimes the tub with the plant is buried, and then it seems that the tree grows out of the ground.
Planting and maintenance of bougainvillea in the Northwest is conducted only in winter gardens and greenhouses. Room potted plants are the only way to admire the beauty of tropical plants. In greenhouses and winter gardens bougainvillea should occupy the southern side, without crowding.
Requirements bougainvillea for growing and care
Depending on the conditions of the content liana can give an increase of up to three meters per year. The regulation of growth and flowering becomes an important factor in the ornamentation of garden bougainvillea during planting and care.
Formation of the crown
Proper pruning of young and skeletal branches allows you to create the desired crown. The shape of the bush can be chosen any. Without a haircut, the number of side shoots decreases, the decorativeness of the plant decreases. There are three types of pruning bougainvillea:
- in the fall, before leaving Bougainvillea to rest, the summer growth is shortened by half;
- spring twigs with woody stems shortened by 10-13 cm, causing bushiness;
- during the growing season remove weak growth and branches that violate the composition.
The same is done with potted and greenhouse plants.
Temperature regime
Even in the most favorable climatic conditions of California and Madrid, the risk of freezing bougainvillea when grown outside, remains. Required temperature:
- in summer, during flowering 21-270 ° C;
- beginning of the growing season in the spring at a temperature above 100 ° C;
- minimum temperature of earth coma +5 degrees.
If the plant is kept in warmer conditions in winter, the rest period does not occur, but the summer bloom will be weaker. It is important for areas where the plant for the summer is exposed in tubs, to comply with the regime for the summer riot of color.
Factors that must be considered when growing and caring for bougainvillea.
. The plant needs abundant watering with warm soft water. At the same time, waterlogging should not be allowed. Wet soil, especially cold, will lead to rotting of the roots and death of the plant.
In the summer, watering depends on the daytime temperature; it is carried out in the morning no more than twice a week when growing bougainvillea outside. Spraying green leaves is good for the plant, but the bracts should remain dry. In winter, watering is rare, only for a small amount of moisture in the coma of the earth. Plant can not be poured.
If the bougainvillea in the Moscow region is contained in a container, the transplant is performed while the growth is reduced, which means the roots lack nutrition.
To feed the plants during the growing season it is necessary to use complex fertilizer, with spring mullein effectively used. Extra nitrogenous fertilizers can provoke an increase in green mass to the detriment of flowering.
The plant needs diffused light in the winter and a bright long day in the summer. Direct sunlight is useful bougainvilleas, bright diffused light, too. Good flowering requires at least 6 hours of direct illumination.
When disembarking a kadochny plant, it is necessary to consider not only the illumination, but choose a windless place. With drafts, the plant can shed its leaves. It is necessary to install a tub once, you cannot even turn it, changing the direction of the branches. The plant will stop blooming and throw off the leaves.
If the weather turned bad, and according to forecasts, long-term bad weather is expected, bougainvillea needs to be protected from waterlogging by all available means.
Creating a handmade beauty with the help of bougainvillea
A separate instance of a tropical flower can delight from one to 10 years in conditions of cultural cultivation. The maximum decorativeness of bougainvillea reaches at the age of 4-5 years. Particularly beautiful are the bushes planted in the ground of the greenhouse on the south side. In the summer they turn into floral avalanches. Especially beautiful compositions, including different colors.
There is another way to use the effect of a separate bush with different colors. Initially, several plants are planted in one tub, an intertwined trunk of several lianas and a lush multicolored shrub are formed by trimming bougainvilleas .
Unusual and fascinating with the sacrament, bonsai from bare bougainvillea. This variety is perfectly amenable to the formation of a trunk. Arches of lianas, pergolas, arbors, that only the artist’s skilled hands will not make from living material!
