Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea is a Brazilian climber that has made itself at home across every warm country, and the colour is not from flowers at all. The papery pink and purple sheets are bracts, and the real flowers are the small cream tubes inside them. It is planted in the spring and early summer months in South Africa and, in the north, only where a hot wall and a frost free winter can be provided, or in a large pot moved under cover. The one lesson worth learning is that it flowers under stress. Poor soil, a tight pot, potash rather than nitrogen, and a proper drying out between soakings all bring bracts. Prune hard after flowering, wearing thick gloves, because the thorns are vicious and it regrows from almost nothing.