(Bougainvillea, Paperflower, Raspberry Ice Bougainvillea)

Raspberry Ice bougainvillea is a shrubby, mounding evergreen climber with short thorns and small green leaves with wavy margins. Leaves have cream to golden yellow edges, dark gray-green centers, and are tinged with red when new. Clusters of red bracts create additional color from summer to autumn or, in the dry season.

Plant bougainvillea in full sun and fertile, well-drained garden soil. Raspberry Ice bougainvillea is especially effective in hanging baskets or other containers.

(Bougainvillea, Paperflower, San Diego Red Bougainvillea)

The big, hearty, long-blooming, red-flowered bougie ‘San Diego Red’ is named for the city where it originates. Its specific history is unknown, but this large, evergreen, woody vine persists in southern California like no other. It is the leading red-flowered bougainvillea by which others are judged.

The long arching branches of 'San Diego Red' are bedecked with dark green leaves and colorful blooms that appear year-round. Its flowers are actually comprised of showy petal-like leaves, called...

(Bougainvillea, Scarlet O'Hara Bougainvillea)

This vivid, bright-red,hybrid bougainvillea is a huge climber that bestows a profusion of the famous tropical bloom to frost-free gardens. Bougainvillea is a hallmark of Mexico and California but can be found thriving in warm climates around the world. The parent species of ‘Scarlet O’Hara’ are native to South America where various colors and forms were bred early on to create our garden varieties. A woody vine-like plant, ‘Scarlet O’Hara’ produces long arching branches decked with dark green leaves.

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(Bougainvillea, Paperflower, Silhouette™ Bougainvillea)

Contemporary plant breeders have transformed bougainvillea, typically an enormous vine, into a few small, manageable shrubs, such as ‘Singapore Pink,’ so that gardens of any size can host intense tropical colors. Most garden bougainvilleas are hybrids descended from giant vines of South America and bred to create less vigorous but highly floriferous vines for gardens. This one, ‘Singapore Pink,’ (also known as Silhouette) takes the downsizing farther, allowing us to rethink using bougainvillea in...

(Bougainvillea, Ms. Alice™ Bougainvillea)

This gorgeous dwarf white bougainvillea offers a shrub sized for smaller gardens but they are commonly massed in larger landscapes too. These woody plants have been bred from giant vines of South America to create more floriferous garden candidates. But this plant takes it even further and asks us to rethink how we use bougies in our landscaping.

This dwarf bears snow white flowers year around adding soft and exciting looks to the garden. The color is displayed on bracts, which are modified...

(Bougainvillea, Paperflower, Sundown Orange Bougainvillea)

Three shades of hot color distinguish this vigorous bougainvillea, with orange, coral and pink blossoms combined on the same tropical vine. Bougainvilleas of all kinds are the hallmark of Mexico and California but can be found thriving in warm climates around the world. The parent species are native to South America where various colors and forms were bred early on to create our garden varieties. They are, like ‘Sundown Orange,’ large woody vine-like plants that produce long, arching branches decked...

(Bougainvillea, Paperflower, Sweet Dream Bougainvillea)

The genus Bougainvillea comprises about 18 species. They are woody, scrambling, thorny vines, shrubs and small trees native to South America. The genus is named for Louis Antoine de Bougainville, a French explorer who sailed around the world in 1767 and discovered the plant in the area of Brazil. There are several commercially important species and hundreds of cultivated varieties.

Generally, these plants are evergreen but some may be semi-evergreen for a short time during winter....

(Bougainvillea, Paperflower, Tahitian Maid Bougainvillea)

The dense, double blooms of ‘Tahitian Maid’ ignite frost-free gardens with their vibrant magenta-red color. This vigorously climbing evergreen tropical is not a true vine but a liana, a group of shrubs that send their long branches into jungle trees of South America. Three major species are the parents of our garden hybrids, which have been crossed into a dazzling array of sizes and colors. Their long branches are lined with dark green leaves and end in masses of bloom.

The color is from bracts,...

(Bougainvillea, Paperflower, Temple Fire Bougainvillea)

A fabulous dwarf bougainvillea, ‘Temple Fire’ shows flaming color in both its flower and its bronze leaf accents. This is a cultivar derived from Bougainvillea glabra, which was crossed with hybrids to create a rainbow of colors and dwarf forms for smaller gardens. It retains the intense, long-lasting color of its ancestors in spite of its short stature plants.

The brick red color blooms are bracts, leaves that have evolved to lure pollinators. The bracts are very long lasting and fade...

(Bougainvillea, Torch Glow Bougainvillea)

This bougainvillea, ‘Torch Glow,’ stands on its own amidst the many garden bougainvilleas due to its unique, upright, shrubby form. Bougainvilleas are technically lianas, tropical shrubs with reaching stems that grow into the treetops of their jungles of origin. Yet this selection was discovered in California among a group of seedlings imported from the Philippines. Ordinary plants have fast-growing stems with widely spaced leaves. The leaves of ‘Torch Glow’ are tightly packed together on their...