Bougainvillea Styling Advice

[Mokena_Mitch]

Hi Everyone,

I've been lurking on this forum for quite awhile but have never had any questions that couldn't be answered by a quick search.

My wife gave me ficus to bring back to life after our cat knocked it off of our counter and was basically dead. Two years later I'm here obsessed with bonsai. They're doing well but will never be good bonsai so I purchased my first pre-bonsai Bougainvillea in August at the Chicago Botanical Gardens.

It was grown out to sell so there wasn't any clear basic branch selection or any ramification when I bought it. I let it grow to make sure it was healthy and have pruned twice to see how it bounced back. There are flowers now in the winter (Chicago Indoors) so I'm confident that it's healthy.

I pruned last week and am hoping for some back budding so everything depends on that. I think it need to be chopped back hard this summer assuming a healthy recovery but am curious to see what you think. Is there an obvious choice? I'm a numbers guy not an art guy so I could be totally wrong but I think option one seems best because it comes forward more than the others and moves more but I like the other two as well. Thank you in advance for any comments/suggestions whether it be positive or negative.

be posi

 

[Carol 83]

Just me but when you repot it, I would make the front the way it's sitting in the picture. I would leave the branch on the right you want to cut off and get rid of that second branch on the left and the one on the right directly across from it. (no good at virts). Then just cut back all that gangly growth. It looks nice and healthy so should grow like crazy when it gets to go out in the spring.

 

[cbrshadow23]

I'm moving from California back to Chicago this year and am thinking I'll keep several of my trees, Bougainvillea being one of them. How is the bonsai scene in Chicago?

 

[Carol 83]

I'm moving from California back to Chicago

Why on earth.....

 

[cbrshadow23]

Why on earth.....

The same reason why anyone lives in the midwest; family lives there haha My wife and I both grew up in Chicago, took a 10 year detour in California and had kids, now want the kids to have local family.
I hear you though.. it will be tough to adapt!

 

[WinstonWolfe]

Why on earth.....

Because the midwest rarely floods, and never burns

 

[WinstonWolfe]

Because the midwest rarely floods, and never burns

Oh, and no earthquakes either... and fresh water

 

[cbrshadow23]

Oh, and no earthquakes either... and fresh water

I've spent many years living in both IL and CA and can quite easily say that California is the better place to live. I have no reason to defend California or to dog on Illinois, but if we didn't both of our extended families in Illinois there's no way we would choose to go back. Fires and earthquakes can't hold a candle to the long dark winters experienced every year in the midwest.

 

[Carol 83]

Because the midwest rarely floods, and never burns

Check out 1993...

 

[WinstonWolfe]

Check out 1993...

Thats fair. I did say "rarely"
Where I am, we have massive snow from November to April. It doesn't really stop anything. We just play in it (and collect yama's when it disappears)

 

[WinstonWolfe]

Hi Everyone,

I've been lurking on this forum for quite awhile but have never had any questions that couldn't be answered by a quick search.

My wife gave me ficus to bring back to life after our cat knocked it off of our counter and was basically dead. Two years later I'm here obsessed with bonsai. They're doing well but will never be good bonsai so I purchased my first pre-bonsai Bougainvillea in August at the Chicago Botanical Gardens.

It was grown out to sell so there wasn't any clear basic branch selection or any ramification when I bought it. I let it grow to make sure it was healthy and have pruned twice to see how it bounced back. There are flowers now in the winter (Chicago Indoors) so I'm confident that it's healthy.

I pruned last week and am hoping for some back budding so everything depends on that. I think it need to be chopped back hard this summer assuming a healthy recovery but am curious to see what you think. Is there an obvious choice? I'm a numbers guy not an art guy so I could be totally wrong but I think option one seems best because it comes forward more than the others and moves more but I like the other two as well. Thank you in advance for any comments/suggestions whether it be positive or negative.View attachment 468534

View attachment 468532be posiView attachment 468531View attachment 468530

To answer the question though, I would go with option #2 of the three, and yes, cut back the elongated shoots, and try to compact the design

 

[BrianBay9]

Thats fair. I did say "rarely"
Where I am, we have massive snow from November to April. It doesn't really stop anything. We just play in it (and collect yama's when it disappears)

I recently read that Michigan is the state with the least risk of natural disasters. A little south and you get tornados, west and your snows turn into blizzards. Sweet spot if you don't mind the winter.

 

[Cdd123]

This is an inexperienced perspective but your option #1 seems to really show off what I feel is a pretty trunk line. From there you could thin it out, and removed the lower large branch going off to the right. This may seem like it leaves a long trunk section, but I feel like my Bougainvillea flowers so intensely and develops a substantial canopy so fast that it could be nice to have the longer trunk in order to see it better. However, they are such awesome little trees I dont think you can go wrong

 

[Mokena_Mitch]

I posted this in a panic because I immediately regretted making the cuts I made. I checked back but missed these replies. Thank you everyone for the advice.

All of those buds at the tips of those branches have already started pushing out new branches so all of those options are still on the table. Whew. I REALLY didn’t expect that given the timing under grow lights. This is such a fun tree to have for a beginner because it backbuds so easily. I was thinking of letting this recover and repot early summer so I’ll post an update then.

The picture I attached is what it looked like before I cut it back. There wasn’t a flower on it until I brought it in for the winter. Thought that was odd but still learning.