Am getting excited...my bougainvillea is finally attempting to grow some bracts....so exciting..have to re-think my watering of this plant this year. So it does seem to prefer a bit more watering during very hot days..or maybe it is now more established, so it is ready to make those bracts.

I am still waiting though..we are still in heat wave days, though getting nicely cool late night:

My Bougainvillea 'Raspberry Ice' doing much better with the bracts..it is enjoying the better temps this Fall so far. Though still sparse growth of the bracts, maybe because my garden does not get that kind of full sun. Just a couple of hours full then dappled the rest of the day. And in my area, I think it does prefer more frequent watering.

Looks great! I had to grit my teeth and do major surgery on mine. The roots were old and stressed spending it's life in a pot so in early summer I got my bread knife, decanted the plant and cut 2/3's of the root ball off. I then pruned it back severely and potted it back up. It's spent the Summer in the greenhouse recovering and is really starting to look good again .. I'll take pictures tomorrow.

FYI - I have done this to a lot of old mature plants that were on their way out and it totally turned them around. I haven't lost one yet. Roses, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, gardenia, Clerodendrum and Rotheca seem to react well to this drastic treatment.

That is good to know..I am also planning to do some hard pruning later on some of my other plants. I think I know now which ones will benefit from it..I was scaredy cat to even think about it before.

That's also good for me to learn. I have several in pots on a terrace and I'm sure they have filled their pots with root. I cut the plants back severely every year but haven't turned them out to check the roots since I planted them about 5 years ago. I was just thinking the other day that maybe I should repot them, knowing I can trim the roots is good.

It's hard and kind of scary the first time you do it and be prepared for the plant to look awful until it starts leafing out again.

Here's my Raspberry Ice .. looking great and putting on blooms. The 2nd picture shows how I pruned it.

I am still trying to understand the proper timing to prune..late Fall, or early Spring. I have read, it can be done anytime, but certainly will not do it now with the bracts out, been waiting for them for quite awhile.

I can't help with the timing for you Tarev. I do it when they are getting out of hand usually that comes to 3 or 4 times a year. Mine look even barer than those when I'm done, usually just sticks coming out of the pot. They come back really fast here, in days they are covered in leaves and bracts starting. Here, they bloom more profusely in the dry season which is winter. So I try to have them in shape before the rains stop.

Ah okay, that is good to know..can go bare like sticks. This plant is teaching me a lot..not just for itself but how to handle similar plants..whew..my fear of killing them is lessened a bit.

The main thing that kills them is too much water, waterlogged soil, and too little sun. They will live but not thrive and bloom much in too little sun but they will die fast if their roots are soggy. They love heat, sun, dry, and neglect.

Somehow it is behaving differently here..loves heat, sun and moist Or maybe it likes more moisture when it is ready to show the bracts.

That is what I am finally noticing with my plants that are tropical..which makes sense since they are after all supposed to be in tropical humid conditions..they need more water. Maybe that is the compromise I have to make for them, more water to compensate for our low humidity here and absence of rain for 6 months or more. Have seen that effect with my Hymenocallis, Amaryllis, Plumeria, Calamondin, Orchids and now the bougainvillea. Thankfully my little garden is in a part sun and part shade to more shade in the afternoon..otherwise these plants would have heat stroke already.

I like the raspberry ice...

Question: Is there a truly thornless one? Read an article and it says that there is one "Miss Alice" aka known as "Singapore White, "Mauna Kea Whtie" and " moonlight". Any truth to that?

I've never seen one.

Bougainvillea 'Raspberry Ice' shows better today...truly enjoyed yesterday's brief rain:

Looking great!

Thanks Anne

I was surprised to see mine putting on bracts after having major surgery.

I wonder when the little flowers bloom..though I am glad the colorful bracts are out..it is more visible anyways than the flowers itself.

In looking back in previous years, mine blooms in February. The picture is from February 2013. It didn't bloom very well this year and that's what made me decide to do a 'makeover'.