If you live in a climate where Bougainvillea will grow to be a flowering skyscraper vine, don’t hesitate to consider another form: SHRUB BOUGAINVILLEA.
If you’re not sure what that looks like, let me introduce you to a beautiful Berkeley, California garden which delivers 100% curb appeal! Using Bougainvillea in a variety of ways in your garden can reap electrifying rewards as you will see in this post…
Shrub form includes trailing and scandent stems. The stems and branches (similar to all Bougainvillea forms) are thorny and this should be considered in areas where children play. Certainly, the thorns can make this a good plant to help keep intruders away.
Bougainvillea is Electrifying
Shrubby Bougainvillea is Unique…
Wake up your garden, and get some curb appeal with shrub form Bougainvillea. Photo examples for this post were taken at peak flowering, during summer. This home is located in the Berkeley Hills and has full sun exposure with the advantage of facing west. Nothing better for the Bougainvillea!
Examples include – Variegated leaves (green with cream edges), orange, red, magenta-red, and purple colored flower bracts
Gorgeous orange, purple, red, + magenta bushy Bougainvillea. Front home. Berkeley, CA
Shrub Bougainvillea – orange and red mixed, Berkeley, CA
Good example of variegated shrubby Bougainvillea with orange bracts. Likely, Bougainvillea ‘Orange Ice’
Close up: mounding Bougainvillea with sun loving, drought tolerant perennials
Love the way the sun is hitting this!
Five Examples of Shrub Bougainvillea
USDA Zones: 9-11
1. Bougainvillea ‘Raspberry Ice’ (Variegated Foliage)
A beautiful, low, mounded, spreading form with a profusion of raspberry-pink blossom-like bracts and contrasting variegated foliage. Perfect for hanging baskets, or as a colorful shrub or groundcover in small sunny spaces. One of the hardiest varieties! Evergreen in frost-free climates; provides superb warm season color in colder winter areas.
2. Bougainvillea ‘Purple Queen’
Giant, rich, deep purple, petal-like bracts are displayed against handsome, deep green foliage. ‘Purple Queen’ has a wonderful compact, upright and spreading form that works well in planter boxes, and containers. It is evergreen in frost-free areas and useful as a colorful annual in cooler northern zones.
3. Bougainvillea ‘Rosenka’
An evergreen shrub that can reach to 3-4+ feet tall by 4-6 feet wide but can be kept much lower with trimming. It has medium green leaves that have a warm bronze cast to the new growth and very colorful bracts that turn from gold to pink as they mature surrounding the small white flowers. Flowers are often on this plant from spring late into the fall and sometimes through a mild winter. Plant in full sun where it requires very little irrigation along the coast once established. Hardy to about 20-25 degrees F. A great shrub-forming selection that provides lots of year-round color in our climate – gets a bit taller and wider than most people seem to think and this has given it black marks by some but it is still one of the smaller growing of the Bougainvillea. It cannot be beat for the splash of color it can add to the landscape.
4. Bougainvillea ‘La Jolla’
An evergreen shrub that can reach to 4-5 feet tall and as wide with dark green foliage and large red bracts surrounding the small white flowers – flowers are often on this plant from spring late into the fall and sometimes through a mild winter. Plant in full sun where it requires very little irrigation along the coast once established. Hardy to about 20-25 degrees F. It is noted as having brighter red bracts than the other red shrub cultivars ‘Temple Fire’ (AKA ‘Helen Johnson’) or ‘Crimson Jewel’.
5. Bougainvillea ‘Oransenka’
An evergreen shrub that can reach to 3-4+ feet tall by 4-6 feet wide but can be kept much lower with trimming. It has medium green leaves and very colorful orange and magenta bracts from spring late into the fall and sometimes through a mild winter. Plant in full sun where it requires very little irrigation along the coast once established. Hardy to about 20-25 degrees F.
Conclusion
From the vine varieties that will swallow your home, to the mounding shrub varieties that live on a hillside or in a container… Bougainvillea is very desirable if you have the mild climate, full sun and warm location that gets the best color and flowering. If you like shrub Bougainvillea’s variegated leaves? Check out current hybrids: ‘ Raspberry Ice,’ ‘Orange Ice’, ‘Vanilla Ice’, and ‘Blueberry Ice’.
Happy Gardening!
Nicole
~Related Posts:
Bougainvillea : See How this Vine Blooms in SF Bay Area Gardens Seasonally! (Part 1)