Bougainvillea ‘Flame’ Live Plant – Orange Red Climbing Vine, 6 inch Rooted Cutting

Overview

Introduce a burst of tropical color and elegance to your outdoor living spaces with the bougainvillea flame live plant. This captivating climbing vine, scientifically known as Bougainvillea ‘Flame’, is celebrated for its breathtaking display of fiery orange and red bracts. Unlike traditional flowers, these vibrant hues come from modified leaves that encase small, unassuming white flowers, creating a truly spectacular visual. Originating from the warm climates of South America, the ‘Flame’ variety is a robust and vigorous grower, making it an excellent choice for adorning trellises, arbors, walls, or even as a stunning groundcover. Its evergreen foliage ensures continuous interest in warmer regions, keeping your garden lively and colorful throughout the year. This particular variety is highly valued for its intense coloration and hardy nature, promising an extended season of magnificent blooms that will undoubtedly captivate all who behold them.

The ‘Flame’ variety of Bougainvillea is a favored selection among gardening enthusiasts due to its striking appearance and relatively straightforward care requirements once it is well-established. It serves as a perfect choice for creating a dramatic focal point in sunny garden settings, flourishing in conditions that many other plants find challenging. Whether your aim is to infuse a splash of exotic color onto a patio, establish a vivid privacy screen, or simply enjoy a fast-growing, profusely flowering vine, the bougainvillea flame live plant stands out as an exceptional option. This offering provides a rooted cutting, prepared to develop into a magnificent mature plant with appropriate nurturing and attention.

Key Benefits

The bougainvillea flame live plant offers numerous advantages that enhance any garden or landscape, combining stunning visual appeal with resilient growth characteristics. Here are some of the key benefits of cultivating this magnificent plant:

• Spectacular, Long-Lasting Blooms: The primary allure of the bougainvillea flame live plant lies in its incredibly vibrant orange and red bracts, which provide continuous, dazzling color for many months, especially during the peak seasons of spring and summer. These showy displays create an impactful and memorable visual statement in any setting.
• Versatile Climbing Habit: As a vigorous climbing vine, this plant is perfectly suited for training on various garden structures such as pergolas, fences, trellises, or walls. It effectively adds vertical interest and softens harsh architectural lines. It can also be cultivated as a standalone shrub or a vibrant groundcover.
• Heat Resistant and Drought Tolerant: This remarkable plant thrives in hot, sunny environments and, once it has established its root system, is exceptionally drought-tolerant. This makes it an outstanding selection for xeriscaping or for gardens situated in arid and humid subtropical climates, significantly reducing water usage.
• Fast Growing: The Bougainvillea ‘Flame’ exhibits a rapid growth rate, quickly filling in designated spaces and providing lush foliage and an abundance of blooms. This allows you to achieve your desired garden aesthetic and visual impact much sooner than with slower-growing species.
• Evergreen Foliage: In regions free from frost, this bougainvillea maintains its broadleaf foliage throughout the entire year, ensuring continuous greenery and structural beauty even during periods when it is not in full bloom, offering consistent garden appeal.
• Low Maintenance: Once established, this plant demands minimal care. Its primary maintenance requirement is pruning to manage its shape and encourage more prolific flowering. This characteristic makes it a highly rewarding choice for busy gardeners seeking beauty without constant effort.
• Attracts Pollinators: Although the actual flowers of the bougainvillea are small and subtle, their brightly colored bracts effectively attract hummingbirds and other beneficial pollinators to your garden. This contributes positively to the local ecosystem and biodiversity.

Plant Care & Growing Tips

Proper bougainvillea care is essential for your bougainvillea flame live plant to flourish and produce its magnificent display of color. This plant thrives under specific conditions to reach its full potential. For optimal growth and prolific flowering, ensure it receives full sun exposure, ideally a minimum of 6 hours of direct sunlight per day. Insufficient light is the most common reason for a lack of blooms. Given its origins in tropical and subtropical climates, this plant thrives in warm environments and is naturally heat resistant.

Regarding watering, bougainvillea prefers deep, infrequent watering once it is established. It is crucial to allow the soil to dry out completely between waterings to encourage flowering, as overwatering can lead to abundant foliage at the expense of blooms. Well-draining soil is paramount; a mixture of clay, peat, and sand provides excellent drainage. The ideal soil pH is neutral. For fertilization, apply a balanced, slow-release fertilizer during the active growing season (spring and summer), but strictly avoid high-nitrogen fertilizers, which can promote excessive leaf growth over flower production. This climbing bougainvillea is generally low-maintenance, but consistent pruning is highly beneficial to manage its vigorous growth, maintain its desired shape, and encourage a bushier habit with more flowers.

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

Size & Details

This offering is for one bougainvillea flame live plant, which is provided as a healthy 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 its current growth stage. It is a vigorous vegetative stage plant, poised to establish rapidly and grow quickly in your garden. With its natural vining plant form and climbing growth habit, it is perfectly designed to sprawl or climb, capable of reaching impressive lengths when mature. The plant is evergreen in suitable climates, ensuring continuous foliage and year-round appeal. It exhibits a fast growth rate, quickly developing into a substantial and visually impactful specimen. The vibrant orange and red color of its bracts will intensify and become more pronounced as the plant matures and receives ample sunlight. This particular variety is renowned for its heat resistance and its ability to thrive in various well-draining soil types, including clay, peat, and sand. Expect this plant to begin flowering profusely during spring and summer, adding dazzling and long-lasting color to your landscape.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: How big does this plant get? A: A mature Bougainvillea ‘Flame’ can grow quite large. When trained as a vine, it often reaches lengths of 15-30 feet, or it can form a dense shrub 5-10 feet tall and wide. Its ultimate size is significantly influenced by pruning practices and its specific growing conditions.
• Q: Is this an indoor or outdoor plant? A: While primarily an bougainvillea outdoor plant that thrives in full sun conditions, it can be successfully grown indoors in a bright, sunny location, especially in regions experiencing cold winters. When kept inside, it will require consistent bright light and careful watering.
• Q: How much sunlight does it need? A: For the most spectacular and prolific flowering display, the Bougainvillea ‘Flame’ requires a minimum of 6 hours of direct sunlight per day. Generally, more sun exposure leads to more abundant and vibrant blooms, as it is a true sun-loving plant.
• Q: Is this plant easy to care for? A: Once established, the Bougainvillea ‘Flame’ is considered a low-maintenance plant, particularly given its natural heat resistance and drought tolerance. The most critical aspects of bougainvillea care involve providing sufficient sunlight and diligently avoiding overwatering.
• Q: What condition will it arrive in? A: The plant will arrive as a healthy rooted cutting, securely packaged in a shipping pot. Great care is taken during packaging to ensure its health and vitality during transit. It will be in a vegetative growth stage, ready to be planted and continue its development in your garden.
• Q: When is the best time to plant a climbing bougainvillea? A: The optimal time to plant is during spring or early summer, after the last threat of frost has passed. This timing allows the plant ample opportunity to establish itself 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 for outdoor planting. If you reside in a colder zone, it is highly recommended to grow it in a container so it can be brought indoors during winter or provided with significant winter protection.
• Q: What kind of soil does it need? A: Bougainvillea thrives in well-draining soil. A suitable mix often includes elements like clay, peat, and sand. The most important factor for its health is ensuring good drainage to prevent root rot, which can be detrimental to the plant.
• Q: Can I grow this climbing bougainvillea in a container? A: Yes, this plant grows exceptionally well in containers. Container cultivation also provides the flexibility to move it indoors during colder months. Ensure the container has adequate drainage holes and is sufficiently large to accommodate its developing root system.
• Q: Does this bougainvillea outdoor plant attract pests? A: Bougainvillea is generally quite pest-resistant. Occasionally, common garden pests such as aphids or scale insects may appear, but these are typically easy to manage with organic pest control methods if detected early.