Friday, December 21, 2007

Bougainvillea Glabra

Bougainvillea is a native of South America from Brazil west to Peru and south to southern Argentina. It is named for Louis Antoine de Bougainville, an admiral in the French Navy who discovered the plant in Brazil in 1768. Bougainvilleas are popular ornamental plants in most areas with warm climates. They flower most heavily in winter and early spring. The colors are found in tones of purple, lavender, carmine, scarlet, red, pink, orange, yellow and white. Some of these colors are seen on this wall in my neighborhood.

In Miami, they are spectacular at this time. It's a big chore for me to trim these fellows around my house because they are so thorny. I'm glad I only have to do that once in a blue moon.

Paper Flower

3 comments:

Kate said...

The photo shows the beauty of the flowers, esp. with the varied colours. I wish I had the problem of cutting them back, but I just have snow!!

Curly said...

Beautiful, and the weather looks so warm.

Thanks for your pictures throughout the year, and for your contribution to the City Daily Photo network.Have a joyous Christmas and a Happy New
Year,
from South Shields Daily Photo

Art By Erika said...

What a specular show of bougainvillea variety! It is one of my favorite plants because it gives such nostalgic feel to the landscape but we can't have them in snowy Arkansas. I wonder if you'd let me paint it for a bougainvillea painting challenge in my art group. I'd appreciate it so much and would love to show you my painting when I'm done. My website is www.artbyerika.com Hope you're having a nice summer! -Erika