Bougainvillea Vines for Landscaping

“Bougainvillea” doubles as a botanical name (genus name) in plant taxonomy and as a common name. When using it as a common name, I do not capitalize.

Botanically, the plants are classified as woody vines, although they often behave more like shrubs. In fact, they can easily be trained to grow as shrubs (see below). The foliage of these tropical flowers is usually evergreen in warm climates, but their leaves will sometimes drop if watering has been insufficient.

Bougainvillea vines are often seen growing against walls (in foundation beds, for example) in hot climates, such as in the Mediterranean, in the Caribbean, or in Southern California. However, these vines often need help in climbing, so provide a trellis or train them via espalier. In fact, if unsupported, they may just sprawl across the ground in some cases and function as a groundcover. If you wish to treat them as shrubs, prune them to keep them compact and do not provide them with anything to climb up. Some like the look of bougainvillea growing in containers around pools (they do create that desirable Mediterranean villa look), but their thorns make them less than ideal plants to grow around swimming pools (in heavily trafficked areas, at least).