Putrajaya Floria 2012 - Bougainvillea Cultivars Part 2

12. Bougainvillea 'Apple Blossom'

Bougainvillea plants are easy to grow and maintain. Generally free of pests and diseases, they thrive best in our Equatorial climate where day and night are equal in length, hence they flower the whole year round. The flowers are in groups of 3 and quite inconspicuous. Their most attractive feature is the papery-thin but brightly coloured bracts that come in many shades.

You can also view my Youtube Video here.

Putrajaya Floria 2012 - Bougainvillea Cultivars Part 1

1. Bougainvillea x buttiana 'Poultonii'

Bougainvillea, the name itself conjures romance in the high seas .....

Putrajaya Floria 2012 - Bougainvillea Competition Entries

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This post has been updated with pictures. The You-tube video is at the bottom post.

My DIY Home Garden in Malaysia - GBBD June 2012

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Today for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - June 2012, I have roses.

My DIY Home Garden in Malaysia - GBBD May 2012 & My 4 Baby Butterflies

1. Dendrobium Candy Stripe

Here's what I have for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - May 2012 from my DIY garden in Malaysia.

My Dendrobium Candy Stripe orchid (picture above) is blooming now. There are 6 flowers in a stalk. This is the first rebloom and from a new shoot produced at the base of the plant.

A Bougainvillea Chimera I Murdered

I  hope you still like me after reading this. Early this week, Andrea wrote a post titled, "Have you heard of the chimera? which made me think back about some of the things that I had done wrong. I was preparing a post about a hibiscus chimera that I had almost killed when she posted her chimera post ahead of me.

The picture above is a much LOVEd bougainvillea chimera which has been with me since the time I started a garden in my new home. The seller assured me that the sapling was a 'normal' bougainvillea.

“A Bougainvillea Chimera I Murdered”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on August 5th, 2011.

The Garden at Hotel Equatorial Bangi - Putrajaya Part 2

There is a beautifully landscaped or should I say award-winning garden at Hotel Equatorial Bangi-Putrajaya. In Part 1 of my post, I have already featured the Japanese Koi Pond cum Rock Garden. Here in Part 2, we shall take a stroll along the meandering pathways of lush tropical greenery.

This looks like the perfect setting for a wedding reception and photography session.

Some of the features here include:

• Well manicured lawns, trimmed hedges and tall swaying palms.
• Beautifully designed arbors decked in luxuriant green foliage 
• Lovely blooms of the everflowering Bauhinia kockiana intertwined with Tristellateia australasiae
• A pergola lined a whole walkway beside the Japanese styled koi pond and it leads to the entrance of a free-form swimming pool where one can watch beautiful, romantic sunsets in the evenings.
• The sounds of running water from the bubbling fountains and mini waterfalls soothes and calm the soul.

“The Garden at Hotel Equatorial Bang-Putrajaya Part 2”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on June 24th, 2011.

The Bougainvillea, A Very Versatile Plant

The bougainvillea is a thorny, woody vine that is native to South America. It was first discovered in 1768 by a French botanist, Philbert Commerson who named it after his friend Louis A. de Bougainville, a captain, matematician and explorer from Canada. It is the national flower of Guam and the official flower of Ipoh, Malaysia. In Malay language, we call it 'bunga kertas' meaning paper flowers.

The actual flower of the plant is small and usually white in colour. Each cluster-of-three flower is sourrounded by 3 to 6 bracts which are brightly coloured. So, we can have a pink, white, purple, red, orange, yellow or magenta bougainvillea plant.

Bougainvilleas are flowering evergreens that can be planted in many ways; e.g. as ornamental plants or bonsai plants in containers, as shrubs and hedges or to decorate pergolas, trelis, patio, decks and balconies. You can see bougainvillea of many colours being used to decorate the balconies of resorts, living apartments and even hospitals. They really look nice with cascading stems and flowers dropping from balconies and walls, especially when they bloom in a myriad of bright colours.

If you select 2 bougainvillea plants of different colours and plant them together in the same pot, you will get this effect. Ain't this combinition pretty? Think of the many colour combinations that you can try out.

This bougainvillea shrub has grown quite tall and is flowering profusely. It adds colour to the rock garden below.

Bougainvilleas are actually very easy to grow. They love the sun in our equatorial tropics. The seedlings can be purchased from nurseries at a cheap price. Some cultivars do not have thorns. Use well drain soil. They are almost pest free and require minimum care. Mine had been with me for more than 10 years, has never been repotted and it is still flowering. It can withstand long periods of neglect. Just that if you don't look after it well, there won't be much flowers but it won't die so easily. From my personal experience, if you water it very frequently, it will grow more stems and leaves at the expense of flowers. To encourage flowering, water less or just enough and apply fertilizer. The flower cycle can last from 4 to 6 weeks. After the flowers have withered, cut off the dead ends or maybe give the plant a good trim. Do this to reshape the plant and encourage new growth.