B for Bougainvillea

Many of you may think of the Bougainvillea as a vine or bush, but it’s actually quite popular as a bonsai tree. It’s native to most parts of South America, but you find them in many countries these days. What makes them delightful are the colorful bracts often mistaken for flowers. If you look between these specialized leaves, that’s where you’ll find the blossoms. 

The tricky part of handling a Bougainvillea bonsai is the thorny branch. When you do maintenance on your small tree, you have to wear gloves to ensure that the thorns don’t prick your skin open. Other than that, it’s one of the most beautiful genera to own with a shopping list of species to obtain. However, only two of them are widely grown as bonsai trees.

I’ve had two Bougainvilleas in my life. Both of them didn’t make it. While we have an extensive guide on it, I somehow have still not mastered the art of keeping these alive. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve watered too much, but I think the last one wasn’t fond of moving indoors to outdoors when spring started. It’s certainly challenging, but I won’t give up. This is how we learn.