A wall bougainvillea filled with blooming flowers is sure to be an eye-catching addition to any place. In this complete guide, we will tackle everything you need to know, from planning it to setting up and maintaining the flowery wall.
Here, we provide tips and tricks to help you achieve that picture-perfect wall, so read on to learn more!
Contents
What Is Wall Bougainvillea?
Bougainvillea is a flowering vine that produces an amazing display of color all year long, and wall bougainvilleas are these vines that have been trained to grow on a wall. These plants can easily be trained to follow a shape as they mature.
Because of this, they are popular plants for growing on a wall, creating canopies, or making dramatic home arch entrances. Here are the factors to consider when you are planning to grow bougainvillea on a wall in your property.
– Location
Given that bougainvillea thrives in full sun and requires at least six hours of sunlight to produce all the vivid colors of a bougainvillea flower, it is important to carefully plan where to put your wall of bougainvillea.
Your bougainvillea wall must be in an area or location where it is directly exposed to the light of the sun for a long period of time. Also, you can choose metal as the best trellis for bougainvillea, but there won’t be as many blooming flowers as expected. Thus, it would simply be a blank wall instead of a wall of gorgeous, blooming flowers.
– Temperature
As sun-loving plants, bougainvillea love warmer climates, and even though they are versatile plants and can withstand a variety of temperatures, the lowest they can tolerate is 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
It is important to consider the temperature in your region when considering putting up a wall of bougainvillea flowers. They usually thrive in tropical areas; thus, they may lose leaves and stop growing in the winter.
But worry not; they usually regrow in the spring. Knowing this temperature requirement will help you manage your expectations on how blooming your wall should be at certain times of the year.
A more specific way of determining if the temperature in your area is suitable for bougainvillea is by knowing your plant hardiness zone. This is crucial since it has a significant impact on figuring out the right amount of care to provide your plant.
For instance, in Zones 2 to 9 with cold winters, you should overwinter your bougainvillea plants. So, it is not advisable to grow them outside.
If they are planted in a pot and sheltered inside for the winter, they can still grow, but putting them on a wall might not be a good idea as these plants need to bask in the light of the sun in order to grow. Bougainvillea plants are best grown outside in areas with hardiness zones 9 or higher because they prefer warmer climates and dry seasons.
– Plant Nutrition
Aside from the light requirement, another essential factor to consider in ensuring your plants’ optimal health is the nutrition they can get from its soil. These plants are not finicky when it comes to the soil.
They only require well-draining soil so that their roots will not get waterlogged. However, a pH of between 5.5 and 6.0 is ideal, as this will allow nutrients to freely flow and keep the plant healthy.
To achieve this ideal pH, adding elemental sulfur can help lower it if it’s high, whereas adding agricultural limestone can increase it if it’s too low. In addition, a balanced feed of 10-10-10 NPK fertilizer can also be beneficial in maintaining the plant in meeting its nutritional needs.
– Maintenance
The bougainvillea plant grows rapidly, so if not maintained properly, your wall could quickly become a chaotic one filled with dry leaves and flowers, dead branches, or simply overgrown and neglected plants.
Regular pruning must be done to maintain the plants in a manageable shape and prevent unruly shrubs. Bougainvillea tend to be dense and take up too much room if not pruned frequently. They can be more challenging to maintain and prune if they grow too huge and heavy.
Simple pruning consisting of removing undesirable stems, snipping for shaping, and generally cutting back the plant will encourage new growth.
How To Put up Wall Bougainvilleas
Preparing the things you will need, setting up the wall for bougainvillea blooming, and taking good care of the blooming bougainvillea plants are essential steps to follow for a beautiful and stunning wall bougainvillea on your property.
– Preparation
Here are the things you will need to prepare for your wall bougainvilleas.
- A wall that is certain to receive enough sunlight for six to eight hours a day
- Wire paneling for support, along with cable ties, fasteners, or bolts or any bougainvillea wire
- Bougainvillea plant or stem cuttings
- Light, loamy soil that is well-draining to be used as the base bed for the plant
– Setting up Your Wall
Now that you are aware of the basic factors to consider and things to prepare, you are now ready to start setting things up. Here are the steps to follow:
- The wall for bougainvillea climbing needs to be ready beforehand. Attach the wire panels against the wall. Make sure to secure them by fastening them to concrete posts using bolts, tension wire, or simply cable ties.
- Prepare the bed base for your bougainvillea to grow. For good results, it is best to use an established stem cutting so you can pull the growing bougainvillea stems toward the wire to start weaving them in. However, it is important not to stretch the plant too much, if it is still short and cannot reach the panel, it should be left to grow a bit more before weaving it and training bougainvillea to climb it.
- Water the plant thoroughly after transplanting the stem to the bed.
- Keep an eye on your growing plants, and once they can be woven to the panel, begin weaving them until they climb on their own.
- Tie the stems and branches if necessary to achieve the desired shape and to train the new growth.
- Make sure you do regular pruning to maintain and encourage more blooming flowers in your growing wall of bougainvillea.
– Taking Care of Bougainvilleas
When you have already set up your bougainvillea wall, it is time to patiently take care of them so you can have the gorgeous display of color you desire.
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Ensure the Plants’ Exposure To Full Sun
It is really important to stress how crucial it is for a bougainvillea plant to be exposed to full sun for at least six hours every day. Given that this plant loves the sun, it thrives and blooms best when it receives its daily sunlight requirements.
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Know Your Plants’ Water Requirements
Bougainvillea prefers dry and well-draining soil, as their roots are prone to root rot when waterlogged. Water them only when the top three inches of the soil are dry. Overwatering will also cause this plant to have leafy growth or produce less or no flowers at all.
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Plant in Proper Soil
No matter how accurate your watering method is, if the soil of your plant is not made up of the right combination, you will still not achieve your desired results.
It may seem that the top layer of soil is dry, so you water it, unknowingly adding to the retained moisture at the bottom, which could lead to poor health of your plant or, worse, root rotting. So, it is vital to have the proper combination of soil for the delicate roots of your bougainvillea plant.
A good combination is 40 percent sand, 30 percent compost, and 30 percent garden soil. If these are not available, you can add coarse river sand to the potting mix, along with pearlite to make the soil slightly acidic.
Mixing them together will create the right environment for your bougainvillea roots in which the water drains well but enough moisture is left.
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Be Vigilant About Temperature Changes
Given that bougainvillea likes dry and hot climates, they only bloom in summer if located in an area with a cooler climate.
To protect your bougainvillea plant from a sudden drop in temperature or even from frosting, you can put a layer of mulch, such as leaves, compost, or hay, around the plant’s base. This should be at least 3 inches thick to protect the area where the roots develop.
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Ensure Adequate Fertilizing
To encourage continuous blooms, you can give your plant supplements in the form of fertilizers. It can either be organic or non-organic. By “organic,” you can use kitchen scraps, such as banana peels, egg shells, and so on. For non-organic crops, a slow-release fertilizer with less nitrogen and more potassium is advisable.
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Know the Right Timing for Pruning
As this plant tends to grow rapidly, it will come to a point where pruning becomes a chore, and sometimes, it is overly done just so the interval between pruning sessions will be longer. There is a right time for when to prune your plants.
The best timing is just after your plants finish blooming. You can cut each flower spike and prune each branch to encourage new growth and promote flowering as well.
FAQs
– How Do You Train Bougainvillea on a Pergola?
Simply tie some twine around the stems that are close to the pergola, and secure the stems by double knotting. Make sure that your knots are not too tight as they may hamper the growing plant. This is how to train bougainvillea on a pergola.
– Does Bougainvillea Damage Walls?
No, bougainvillea does not damage walls. In fact, they do the opposite and beautify them. However, if bougainvillea is planted on the ground and placed too close to a house, the growing roots might disturb the foundation.
Conclusion
A wall of bougainvillea flowers is a gorgeous addition to any home or garden.
Let us summarize point by point what we have learned about what it is, how to set it up, and how to maintain it.
- The factors to consider when planning to put up a wall of bougainvillea are location, temperature, plant nutrition, and maintenance.
- Given that the bougainvillea is a sun-loving plant, it is important to determine the plant hardiness of your region, as your plants will not thrive if you live in zones 9 and below.
- Once you verify that bougainvillea can be planted in your area, it’s time to prepare your wall. It must be in a location that is exposed to the sun for at least six hours every day.
- You can easily train your bougainvillea plant to climb the walls by securing the growing stems to a post attached to a wire mesh or wire panels. This can be done by using twine.
- Bougainvillea is a low-maintenance and drought-resistant plant. Once established, the only maintenance you’ll ever need is occasional pruning, especially after it blooms. This is to encourage new growth and promote continuous flowering.
With all the tips and tricks outlined in this guide, you will surely have your gorgeous wall of bright-colored bougainvillea ready in no time!
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