Secrets of Happy Bougainvilleas

Q: When I visited Hawaii I saw their everblooming bougainvilles, flowering non-stop! How come our bougainvilles in Florida are not flowering as much? Is there any special secret to make them bloom?

A: Bougainvilleas prefer drier climate and especially drier summers. Florida summers are rainy and humid. The steaming greenhouse conditions are favorable for most tropical plants (except desert plants like most cacti). Bougainvilleas also grow vigorously in Florida heat and frequent rains, but most cultivars prefer dryer conditions for profuse flowering. These are a few tips that can help you grow happy Bougainvilleas and enjoy their showy flowers even in humid climates:

- In Florida, Bougainvilleas bloom mostly in Winter. If you are a snowbird, this plant is definitely for you!
- Choose sunny, dry, and elevated location for Bougainvilleas, never a low spot and never a shade spot. Give it as many hours of sun as possible.
- Use only well-draining soil. Usually, sandy soils work well when mixed with some compost. If your soil is too heavy, add soil conditioners like perlite, bark, sand.
- Take advantage of cultivars that are well adapted to humid climates: Dwarf Everblooming Pixie, Thornless B. arborea.
- Remember Bougainvilleas are the easiest and the most rewarding potted plants.
- Use bloom boosters along with well-balanced slow release plant food. We recommend these: Pink-N-Good flower booster and smart-release granulated Tropical Allure.
- Do not overwater and keep the plant on a dry side.

Magic mix for stubborn plants

Myco Mix - magic mix with Mycorrhiza

A word from the owner...
...When I first started growing tropical fruit trees, I noticed that Lychee just can't be grown from seed, period. The seed germinates readily, a little happy seedling grows like crazy... but only for the first couple weeks. Then it stops. Then it shrinks. Then it dies.
My teacher, tropical fruit tree expert Murray Corman (Garden of Delights), made fun of me for growing Lychee from seed, and explained his sarcasm with two words - "Need Mycorrhiza!" It appears that in Nature, Lychee seedlings can only grow around its mother plant which has this magic plant-friendly fungus around its roots! The only way to succeed with some seedlings is using this amazing Nature symbiosis... Check out Mycorrhiza - and try it, works 100% in all stubborn cases!

Myco Mix is an amazing underground secret to a better garden! This professional growing medium with Mycorrhiza is a must for establishing plants, recovering weak plants, and for transplanting applications, including seedlings and cuttings...Learn more...

Featured plant. Randia formosa - Blackberry jam fruit

Randia formosa - Blackberry jam fruit

This unique compact plant, perfect for container culture, combines features of a fragrant flower and tasty desert fruit. Kids love it! Originally from Central and South America, this rare tropical small evergreen tree bears fruit which tastes like fresh Blackberry jam. Many claim that it's even better than preserves. Closely related to the gardenia, its flowers are sweetly fragrant. This relatively hardy tropical has attractive foliage and can be grown in a container as well as in the ground. The Randia formosa (or Rosenbergiodendron formosum) produces as many as 25 to 30 fruits at a time. Since it blooms for a few months in the fall and winter, fruiting and flowering can be enjoyed when many other plants are dormant. Large tubular white flowers that attract nocturnal moths... Read more about this plant...

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