VINES AND CREEPERS
Climbing up a tall tree, spilling dramatically over benches and wood, growing over graden trellis, clipped and trained into formal shapes, vines and creepers include some of the most gorgeous and decorative of tropical plants. Bright and vibrant, they will seize the eye of the audience and hold on to it firmly. It is no wonder then, that plants such as Bougainvella is so common in Singapore!
Bougainvillea
Botanical family: Nyctaginaceae
Named after the French navigator, Louis de Bougainvelle, who came across it during an 18th century visit to Brazil, this extremely showy vine quickly become a garden favourite and has since been extensively hybridized with forms and colours very different from the original plant. By nature, Bougainvillea is a climber or a scandent shrub with stems that can reach severeal metres in length, usually clinging with the aid of curved spines. It can be clipped and trained to take on shapes, such as to form a hedge or trained into topiary shapes with sizeable trunks.
Most varieties have pale green ovate leaves in paris and the true flowers are small, white, tubular and insignficant as compared to the surrounding bracts that appear in profusion. The most common colours are purple or magenta, but nowadays, there are white, orange, pinkm crimson and more. For this, there is a need for the gardener to come down to our stores to make the selection on the spot, as there are many hues to choose from.
Bougainvillea always need full sun to flower best and prefers dry or at least very well drained soild, whether grown in a garden or as a pot plant. Because Singapore tend to have prolonged dry periods, bougainvillea will then flower in large quantities. Hard pruning after flowering promotes busy growth and more flowers.
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