I have given a small Bougainvillea plant to a friend, its about 8" tall, in
a pot, and it was outside all summer, she has taken it indoors, but thinks
its going to be happier outside, I am almost, In fact I am sure that it
should be indoors for winter, but need your expert advice before I go and
read her the riot act! We are in Formby, North West, between Southport and
Liverpool, but don't get fierce costal winds, as protected by sand dunes. We
actually have our own Mini Climate here, snow 8/10 miles away, and not a
sign here, Ian McCaskel (weatherman) once said that Formby had the ideal
climate in the UK!

In message , Sheila
writes
I have given a small Bougainvillea plant to a friend, its about 8" tall, in
a pot, and it was outside all summer, she has taken it indoors, but thinks
its going to be happier outside, I am almost, In fact I am sure that it
should be indoors for winter, but need your expert advice before I go and
read her the riot act! We are in Formby, North West, between Southport and
Liverpool, but don't get fierce costal winds, as protected by sand dunes. We
actually have our own Mini Climate here, snow 8/10 miles away, and not a
sign here, Ian McCaskel (weatherman) once said that Formby had the ideal
climate in the UK!


For what it's worth, I have seen bougainvillaea growing happily and in
great profusion in many places where there is frost.... e.g. on the
lower slopes of Mount Kenya but my feeling is that while it may be able
to take a couple of degrees - say down to -3C - I doubt if it could
withstand regular and prolonged exposure. Otherwise it would probably be
much more widely grown in the UK than is currently the case. Living in
Dorset I have to say that I don't recall seeing any growing in this
relatively mild county. If it's in a pot and it's as small as you say,
there should be no difficulty in whipping it indoors or keeping in a
cool greenhouse should Mr. MacCaskel or colleagues forecast strong east
winds with associated blizzards.

I suspect some of the best advice on this topic may come from Sacha.

Good luck to the plant!
--
Tom W.
Deepest Dorset

On 24/10/08 15:24, in article , "Tom
Withycombe" wrote:

In message , Sheila
writes
I have given a small Bougainvillea plant to a friend, its about 8" tall, in
a pot, and it was outside all summer, she has taken it indoors, but thinks
its going to be happier outside, I am almost, In fact I am sure that it
should be indoors for winter, but need your expert advice before I go and
read her the riot act! We are in Formby, North West, between Southport and
Liverpool, but don't get fierce costal winds, as protected by sand dunes. We
actually have our own Mini Climate here, snow 8/10 miles away, and not a
sign here, Ian McCaskel (weatherman) once said that Formby had the ideal
climate in the UK!


For what it's worth, I have seen bougainvillaea growing happily and in
great profusion in many places where there is frost.... e.g. on the
lower slopes of Mount Kenya but my feeling is that while it may be able
to take a couple of degrees - say down to -3C - I doubt if it could
withstand regular and prolonged exposure. Otherwise it would probably be
much more widely grown in the UK than is currently the case. Living in
Dorset I have to say that I don't recall seeing any growing in this
relatively mild county. If it's in a pot and it's as small as you say,
there should be no difficulty in whipping it indoors or keeping in a
cool greenhouse should Mr. MacCaskel or colleagues forecast strong east
winds with associated blizzards.

I suspect some of the best advice on this topic may come from Sacha.

Good luck to the plant!

You're very flattering, Tom but I can think of several people who will know
much more about this than me - to name only three, Charlie, Nick and David
Poole. In terms of Southport, I've only ever gardened in the tropics of
Jersey and Devon!

I wouldn't risk it myself and certainly not with such a baby plant. In
parts of Britain some Bougainvilleas will go to around -3C for short periods
and if they're mature plants. But I really wouldn't do that to this one!

IMO, it needs to be in a light, frost-free place for the winter which is not
too hot, either and given minimum watering and very free drainage during
winter.

For the info of the original poster, I asked my husband - he's the
nurseryman, not I - and he said well, she can put it outside but that will
be all she does to it. ;-))
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)

In article ,
Sacha wrote:

You're very flattering, Tom but I can think of several people who will know
much more about this than me - to name only three, Charlie, Nick and David
Poole. In terms of Southport, I've only ever gardened in the tropics of
Jersey and Devon!

Well, so are you, but I don't know much about this! It's certainly
capable of taking light frost, but I can't say more than that.
There's no need to worry yet, at least in most parts of the UK,
but it's getting closer to the time I will bring my Strelitzia,
Tibouchina etc. in.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 24/10/08 18:45, in article ,
" wrote:

In article ,
Sacha wrote:

You're very flattering, Tom but I can think of several people who will know
much more about this than me - to name only three, Charlie, Nick and David
Poole. In terms of Southport, I've only ever gardened in the tropics of
Jersey and Devon!

Well, so are you, but I don't know much about this! It's certainly
capable of taking light frost, but I can't say more than that.
There's no need to worry yet, at least in most parts of the UK,
but it's getting closer to the time I will bring my Strelitzia,
Tibouchina etc. in.

Ray's caved in and decided NOT to experiment over winter with a mature
Lonicera hildebrandiana outside. It's such a love rampageous, mature plant,
that I'm very glad he's cut it back and brought it in. I do think it's
asking a lot of an 8" Bougainvillea to take winter outdoors. Light and
fleeting frost might not harm a woody, mature plant in the lee of a south
facing house wall - I really don't know. But the worst enemy would be wet,
cold roots all winter I should think. And for an 8" one - oh dear!


--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)

In article ,
says...
On 24/10/08 18:45, in article ,
" wrote:

In article ,
Sacha wrote:

You're very flattering, Tom but I can think of several people who will know
much more about this than me - to name only three, Charlie, Nick and David
Poole. In terms of Southport, I've only ever gardened in the tropics of
Jersey and Devon!

Well, so are you, but I don't know much about this! It's certainly
capable of taking light frost, but I can't say more than that.
There's no need to worry yet, at least in most parts of the UK,
but it's getting closer to the time I will bring my Strelitzia,
Tibouchina etc. in.

Ray's caved in and decided NOT to experiment over winter with a mature
Lonicera hildebrandiana outside. It's such a love rampageous, mature plant,
that I'm very glad he's cut it back and brought it in. I do think it's
asking a lot of an 8" Bougainvillea to take winter outdoors. Light and
fleeting frost might not harm a woody, mature plant in the lee of a south
facing house wall - I really don't know. But the worst enemy would be wet,
cold roots all winter I should think. And for an 8" one - oh dear!



Bougainvillea with a trunk thickness of over 1" diametre against a south
facing wall in the very favourable coastal south of the country will
survive depending on variety (there are 3 species that are crossed to
produce the modern hybrids and it depends on the ratio of parentage)
But surviving and doing well are two different things.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

Bougainvillea spectabilis is probably the toughest and conveniently is
the most commonly available. That said, it will not survive out of
doors anywhere north of the southern-most counties and even then only
in the warmest, most favourable spots where air-frosts are infrequent
and very light. So Formby or anywhere near it is far less than
ideal. For a Bougainvillea to survive, the colder the night, the
warmer the corresponding day temperature has to be. If fairly dry at
the roots, Bougainvillea can survive a couple of degrees below zero
for just a few hours provided there's a compensatory rise between 8
-15C during the day.

However, it will suffer badly if there are frequent exposures to sub-
zero temps or if several take place within a short time. Even in
relatively frost-free regions, there are problems since cool
temperatures combined with moisture at the root and high humidity can
lead to root rot and boytritus, which will attack and kill buds on the
stems. B. spectabilis needs to be planted close to a warm, sunny wall
where there is 'rain shadow' to prevent the roots becoming saturated
in winter.

The hybrids with pink, orange, red or white bracts tend to be less
cool tolerant and are best kept 'ticking over' with a little root
moisture, full light and temps above 3C. by night rising to 10C or
more by day.