The $1.00 Treasure...

[TooCoys]

While Houston was flooding today, we were touring garden centers. Unfortunately most nurseries were closed but the Lowe’s wasn’t.

While I was walking around disappointed that I couldn’t find a small ficus to fiddle with, the hubs goes and finds this.

I have no idea if it’s good or not, but it was grown relatively locally, it’s pretty, it had a form that caught my eye, and best of all...IT WAS ON CLEARANCE FOR $1.00. And it was the only one left! So for a whole $1.08 after taxes I came home completely happy.

I wanted to wait until I got it planted in a proper ovular or rectangle bonsai pot, but I’m too excited.

 

[Anthony]

Remember now it is a Sub-Tropical.
Good find.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[TooCoys]

Remember now it is a Sub-Tropical.
Good find.
Good Day
Anthony

I think we live in a sub tropical climate. Texas Gulf Coast about a block off of Galveston Bay. Lots of humidity and heat!

 

[sparklemotion]

Adorbs! Seems like it's already telling you it wants to be a semi-cascade.

There are a few good threads on bougainvillea on here, this is a good place to start:https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/are-you-a-bouger.25955/

Don't put it in a bonsai pot until the trunk is the size you want... this trunk looks pretty small, but small trees are nice too.

 

[TooCoys]

Don't put it in a bonsai pot until the trunk is the size you want... this trunk looks pretty small, but small trees are nice too.

Thanks for the reference! I’m not doing anything with it just yet. I’ll go google how to increase trunk size.

 

[atlarsenal]

Nice find especially for the price. Bougies are one of my favorites!

 

[TooCoys]

There are a few good threads on bougainvillea on here, this is a good place to start:https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/are-you-a-bouger.25955/

.

Dang! That’s a 37 page BOOK on the bougie. Thanks again!!

 

[Carol 83]

Nice find especially for the price. Bougies are one of my favorites!

Mine too. Regular nurseries/big box stores don't carry them around here though.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Why plant in Bonsai pot when is not even developed yet? Needs ground, grow box or big grow container to develop.

 

[TooCoys]

Why plant in Bonsai pot when is not even developed yet? Needs ground, grow box or big grow container to develop.

Because I’m new and know absolutely nothing of course!

But thanks to this thread, and additional and continuing reading and research, I now know that it’s not ready yet.

 

[grouper52]

Because I’m new and know absolutely nothing of course!

But thanks to this thread, and additional and continuing reading and research, I now know that it’s not ready yet.

My article in the "Resources" section of this site, titled, "The Importance of Starting With a Good Trunk," should prove very useful to you in regards to what people are saying here. In your climate this thing will grow like gangbusters, and if you plant it over a tile in the ground (someone here can probably point you to a reference on how to do that), and if you fertilize for growth - not flowers - with a nitrogen-heavy fertilizer (don't over-do it, though!), you will have something spectacular in just a few years that you can enjoy the rest of your life.

 

[Anthony]

Some Bougainvilleas are trees in Brazil.
A google will show.
I mentioned Sub-tropical, because this section / forum is
Tropical.

Look to see if they need to rest.

On my side with the Dry Season of no rain, they self defoliate.
So you don't try to keep them fully in leaf,
Nor too watered.
Good find, once again.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[TooCoys]

I went and did it again.

Went to a different Lowe’s today looking for another, and this one was the last. It was up near the register and on clearance for another $1.

I really wanted to do an upright like Nigel’s, and this one seemed like it would work.

I repotted both in 6” clay pots, with a mixture of potting soil, peat, vermiculite, and sand. 1/3 of the bottom filled with pea gravel, and 2/3 soil mixture. I wired this one upright with some small training wire.

Took the three cuttings and stuck them in soil too. Hoping for roots!

 

[TooCoys]

Oh, and while I was at Lowe’s, I talked to too ladies and texted them the link for the 37 page Bougie pdf y’all referenced above. They were so happy!

 

[TooCoys]

I wired the first $1.00 treasure into a cascade form today. I need to get a taller square pot for it. It’s still got a ton of growing to do but I figured I’d start now since the branches were getting woody.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

'Barbara Karst' is a nice dwarf cultivar of Bougainvillea, really a nice find.

 

[TooCoys]

'Barbara Karst' is a nice dwarf cultivar of Bougainvillea, really a nice find.

That's interesting, and new news! I didn't realize it was a dwarf.

 

[Carol 83]

'Barbara Karst' is a nice dwarf cultivar of Bougainvillea, really a nice find.

Is it a dwarf? I have a few Barbara Karst's and they have pretty large leaves.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Is it a dwarf? I have a few Barbara Karst's and they have pretty large leaves.

I was typing from memory, vague but true, perhaps I misremembered again. Dwarf does pertain to plant size not necessarily leaf size. Maybe someone else knows the correct answer.

 

[GrimLore]

Is it a dwarf? I have a few Barbara Karst's and they have pretty large leaves.

was typing from memory, vague but true, perhaps I misremembered again. Dwarf does pertain to plant size not necessarily leaf size.

The "Helen Johnson" Karst is considered dwarf because it normally reaches 2 - 3foot in height even on a trellis. Standard Karst can go 20 plus foot in the same conditions. I see no difference in the leaf size but the dwarf starts to bract a little on the copper side but soon turn to the normal red/purple/ white centered as a standard Karst.

Grimmy