The French navigator Louis de Bougainville brought the enchanting triplet flower to Europe. In his honor it was given its botanical name "Bougainvillea". It is not hardy. How is the container plant overwintered?
Triple flowers
In our latitudes, the bougainvillea is cultivated in winter gardens or on the balcony in a tub. She is a real sun worshiper. Shady locations and rainy summers are troublesome for her. It is not hardy. As soon as it gets colder in autumn, she has to move to sheltered winter quarters.
preparation
1. Choose light winter quarters
Triple flowers need a bright place to overwinter. Dark winter quarters weaken the plant and can lead to the failure of flowering in the following year.
Possible winter quarters are:
- frost-free, bright basement rooms
- Greenhouses
- unused adjoining rooms
- Winter gardens
2. Note the winter temperature
Wintering in the garage, in the basement or in cool adjoining rooms is recommended. Winter quarters with a room temperature of 10 to 15 degrees Celsius are best.
3. Stop watering completely from October
Refrain from watering as early as October. The substrate in the bucket dries out and the triple flower sheds its leaves completely.
4. Plant pruning before moving into winter quarters
After the leaves have fallen, prune the plant vigorously. This prevents the plant from unnecessarily investing its energy in the dead flowers. Use sharp, clean tools. Remove dried out parts of the plant and
meager branches.Overwinter
5. Protect from the cold with an insulating underlay
Choose a bright, cool, but frost-proof place as winter quarters for the container plant in November. Place the plant on an insulating wooden base.
6. Do not water in the cool winter quarters
When wintering in a cool room, the bougainvillea does not need to be watered. Do not water the plant again until spring when the first new shoots can be seen.
Winter in the apartment
- Put the bougainvillea in its bright winter quarters in the house at the beginning of October
- Water the plant regularly so that it can keep its foliage
- The substrate in the bucket must not dry out completely in winter
- Slowly get the plant used to its outdoor location again in April
- She was supposed to spend cold nights in the house.
Wintering
7. Carefully prepare for moving to the open air in spring
At the beginning of April, slowly get the bougainvillea used to the field again. Put them on the balcony or terrace during the day on warm spring days. The sensitive potted plant should initially spend the nights in the house. In the middle to the end of April she can finally move outside.
Note: Now and again
late frosts are also heralded in April. Then, as a precaution, put triplets back inside. Otherwise the young shoots could be damaged.8. In exceptional cases, wintering in heated rooms is possible
If you don't have a bright, frost-free garage or basement, you can overwinter the bougainvillea in warm living rooms. However, more intensive care is then required.
9. Radical pruning in spring for healthy plants
Triplet flowers grow very quickly and need to be pruned regularly. The best time for radical pruning is in the spring, before the growing season begins. The pruning in late autumn is not absolutely necessary, but makes it easier for the vigorous plant to move to winter quarters and strengthens its vitality.
Attention pests!
The risk of being attacked by spider mites or scale insects increases for triplet flowers in their winter quarters. The animals feel particularly at home when they are overwintered in heated rooms. Check your plants regularly for changes. Spider mites can be recognized by their white webs. The first sign of a scale insect infestation is sticky honeydew on the leaves.
