Hello - Thanks for the reply. Nah, I don't need to cut the branches. Just got a little eager to see some progress. Poor little tree was in pretty bad shape, guess that's why I got it for 75% off. Looking really pretty good now, after being babied for a bit over two months. Did take out some small dead wood branches just to clean it up. Major concern is coming winter and keeping indoor humidity high enough to bring the little gal thru. Oops - forgot to mention - all my little trees have been ladies, just a quirk on my part, with the exception of one I named George. Got him on a visit to Dallas so he was my little Bush from Texas. Another concern is changing pots. The planting medium in the pot seems to be pretty sandy and have a bit of a concern about it crumbling when the move is made. But we shall see. Thanks a bunch, again. marsh

I raise you a double help.I purchased a white and pink bougainvillea three springs ago.I planted it in good soil.I used Bougainvillea food.The first year it grew by double it's size and had blooms everywhere. The second year was another double.It handled a few frosts but started blooming with the beginning of spring.This winter the plant was hit with a three day freeze.I cut the branches all of the way to four inches from the soil.This summer the plant went everywhere. The branches we solid green and grew about four to eight feet in length.I did two things wrong. First, I cut them too far back and second I used Algoflash all-purpose.It is a great fertilizer by not for bougainvilleas.I roped all of the branches in two spots to stop it from laying on the ground. I have removed most of the leaves on two occasion only to find more leaves.I have not seen one bloom and for the last six weeks I have been using bouginvillea food. What can I do? I miss the flowers. Tommy

Where I live, bougainvillea grows in the hottest, driest places, year round. There are slightly more flowers in the summertime but I don't think it ever goes dormant. I admit, I have never grown it as a houseplant, it grows like a weed my back yard. Depending on where you live, it might slow down in winter due to temperature and not enough sun. If you want it to grow healthiest, I would give it as much sun and heat as possible.

I have wilting leaves on a propagated cutting from the mother plant. I am desiring to grow in pots as Bonsai. I have successfully grown Bonsai but this is my first attempt with a Bougainvillea. So far I water the mother plant as it is almost completely on the extreme dry side...I live south of San Antonio and the weather is about 87+...very nice and mild. Also, when should I repot the mother plant? The cuttings are about 1 week old amd doing fine so is it ok to re-pot the mother plant in a smaller pot by cutting no more than 1/4 of the root mass, filling with good bonsai soil, with small lava rocks on the bottom and screens covering the drainage holes. They must have drainage holes or the plant will develop root rot. The roots must be able to breath and the pot must be kept off the ground, facing south if possible where it recieves the East to west sun for at least 5 hours per day. Any advice is welcome and hopefully I canm be of help, as well.