Overview

Bring a touch of tropical elegance and vibrant color to your outdoor spaces with the bougainvillea flame live plant. This captivating climbing vine, known botanically as Bougainvillea, is celebrated for its spectacular display of fiery bracts in shades of orange and red. Unlike traditional flowers, the brilliant color comes from modified leaves called bracts, which surround the small, inconspicuous white flowers. Originating from South America, Bougainvillea ‘Flame’ is a vigorous grower, making it an ideal choice for covering trellises, arbors, walls, or even as a dazzling groundcover. Its evergreen foliage provides year-round interest in warmer climates, ensuring your garden remains lively and colorful. This particular variety is cherished for its intense hue and robust nature, promising a long season of breathtaking blooms that will draw attention and admiration.

The ‘Flame’ variety of Bougainvillea is a popular choice among gardeners for its striking appearance and relatively easy care once established. It’s a perfect plant for creating a dramatic focal point in sunny landscapes, thriving in conditions that many other plants find challenging. Whether you’re looking to add a splash of exotic color to a patio, create a vibrant privacy screen, or simply enjoy a fast-growing, flowering vine, the bougainvillea flame live plant is an exceptional option. This particular specimen is a rooted cutting, ready to grow into a magnificent mature plant with proper care and attention.

Key Benefits

The Bougainvillea ‘Flame’ offers numerous benefits for any garden or landscape, combining stunning aesthetics with resilient growth habits. Here are some of the key advantages of cultivating this magnificent plant:

• Spectacular, Long-Lasting Blooms: The primary appeal of the bougainvillea flame live plant is its incredibly vibrant orange and red bracts that provide continuous color for months, especially during spring and summer. These showy displays create an impactful visual statement.
• Versatile Climbing Habit: As a vigorous climbing vine, it is perfect for training on structures like pergolas, fences, trellises, or walls, adding vertical interest and softening hard architectural lines. It can also be grown as a shrub or groundcover.
• Heat Resistant and Drought Tolerant: This plant thrives in hot, sunny conditions and, once established, is remarkably drought-tolerant, making it an excellent choice for xeriscaping or gardens in arid and humid subtropical climates.
• Fast Growing: Bougainvillea ‘Flame’ exhibits a fast growth rate, quickly filling in spaces and providing lush foliage and abundant blooms, allowing you to achieve your desired garden aesthetic sooner.
• Evergreen Foliage: In frost-free regions, this bougainvillea maintains its broadleaf foliage year-round, ensuring continuous greenery and structural beauty even when not in full bloom.
• Low Maintenance: Once established, this plant requires minimal care, primarily needing pruning to maintain shape and encourage more prolific flowering. This makes it a rewarding choice for busy gardeners.
• Attracts Pollinators: While the actual flowers are small, the bright bracts can attract hummingbirds and other beneficial pollinators to your garden, contributing to a healthy ecosystem.

Plant Care & Growing Tips

Proper care is essential for your bougainvillea flame live plant to thrive and produce its magnificent display of color. This plant prefers specific conditions to reach its full potential. For optimal growth and flowering, ensure it receives full sun exposure, ideally 6 or more hours of direct sunlight per day. Insufficient light is the most common reason for poor blooming. Given its native tropical and subtropical climates, this plant flourishes in warm environments and is heat resistant.

When it comes to watering, bougainvillea prefers deep, infrequent watering once established. Allow the soil to dry out completely between waterings to encourage flowering, as overwatering can lead to lush foliage but fewer blooms. Well-draining soil is crucial; a mix of clay, peat, and sand provides good drainage. The ideal soil pH is neutral. For fertilization, use a balanced, slow-release fertilizer during the growing season (spring and summer), but avoid high nitrogen fertilizers, which can promote leaf growth at the expense of flowers. This climbing bougainvillea is generally low-maintenance, but regular pruning is beneficial to manage its vigorous growth, maintain shape, and encourage a bushier habit with more flowers.

The Bougainvillea ‘Flame’ is best suited for USDA hardiness zones 9-11 for outdoor cultivation. In cooler climates, it can be grown in containers and brought indoors during winter or treated as an annual. Be aware of its thorns, which provide a natural defense but require careful handling during gardening tasks. Common issues include yellowing leaves (often due to overwatering or nutrient deficiency) and lack of blooms (usually due to insufficient sunlight or too much nitrogen). Addressing these factors will help ensure a healthy and profusely flowering bougainvillea outdoor plant.

Size & Details

This offering is for one bougainvillea flame live plant, provided as a rooted cutting in a shipping pot. The plant typically measures around 6 inches in height and 3 inches in width, though exact dimensions may vary slightly depending on growth. It is a vegetative stage plant, ready to establish and grow quickly in your garden. With its vining plant form and climbing growth habit, it is designed to sprawl or climb, reaching impressive lengths when mature. The plant is evergreen in suitable climates, providing continuous foliage. It exhibits a fast growth rate, quickly developing into a substantial specimen. The vibrant orange and red color of its bracts will become more pronounced as it matures and receives ample sunlight. This particular variety is known for its heat resistance and ability to thrive in various soil types including clay, peat, and sand, as long as they are well-draining. Expect this plant to begin flowering profusely during spring and summer, adding dazzling color to your landscape.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: How big does this bougainvillea flame live plant get? A: A mature Bougainvillea ‘Flame’ can grow quite large, often reaching 15-30 feet in length when trained as a vine, or forming a dense shrub 5-10 feet tall and wide. Its ultimate size largely depends on pruning and growing conditions.
• Q: Is this an indoor or outdoor plant? A: While primarily an bougainvillea outdoor plant thriving in full sun, it can be grown indoors in a bright, sunny spot, especially in regions with cold winters. It will require consistent light and careful watering when kept inside.
• Q: How much sunlight does it need? A: For the best flowering display, Bougainvillea ‘Flame’ requires a minimum of 6 hours of direct sunlight per day. More sun generally leads to more prolific and vibrant blooms. It is a true sun-lover.
• Q: Is this plant easy to care for? A: Once established, Bougainvillea ‘Flame’ is considered low-maintenance, especially given its heat resistance and drought tolerance. The most important aspects of bougainvillea care are providing ample sunlight and avoiding overwatering.
• Q: What condition will it arrive in? A: The plant will arrive as a rooted cutting in a shipping pot, carefully packaged to ensure its health during transit. It will be in a vegetative growth stage, ready to be planted and continue its development.
• Q: When is the best time to plant a climbing bougainvillea? A: The best time to plant is in spring or early summer after the last frost, allowing it ample time to establish before cooler temperatures arrive. If growing indoors, it can be planted any time of year.
• Q: Will it survive winter in my zone? A: This heat resistant bougainvillea is hardy in USDA Zones 9-11. If you are in a colder zone, it’s best to grow it in a container and bring it indoors during winter or provide significant winter protection.
• Q: What kind of soil does bougainvillea care require? A: Bougainvillea thrives in well-draining soil. A mix that includes clay, peat, and sand is suitable. The most important factor is good drainage to prevent root rot.
• Q: Can I grow this climbing bougainvillea in a container? A: Yes, it grows very well in containers, which also allows you to move it indoors during colder months. Ensure the container has good drainage holes and is large enough to accommodate its root system.
• Q: Does this bougainvillea outdoor plant attract pests? A: Bougainvillea is generally pest-resistant. Occasionally, aphids or scale insects may appear, but they are usually easy to manage with organic pest control methods if caught early.