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How to get bougainvilleas to bloom time and time again.

bougainvillea-220pxTo encourage the long and vibrant color of your bougainvillea, the trick of the trade is “the more frequently you trim them, the more they bloom!”

Bougainvillea’s new blooms are generated from the new growth. Trimming promotes new growth which encourages new blooms. Simple as that!

Just give it regular trimmings and shaping and you’ll have colorful blooms over and over again. A good dose of fertilizer also encourages blooms. Also, keep in mind, once your bougainvillea is established it does not require or like a lot of watering. It is considered a drought tolerant plant, so take care not to over water. We suggest only watering them 2-3 times a week vs every day when freshly planted.  After it is acclimated (about 2 months,) then watering once a week is plenty.

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My tree does not look so good. How can I tell if it is dead?

healthy-tree1

Healthy tree

dead-tree1

Dead tree

distressed-tree1

Distressed tree

An oldie, but goody as we get asked this one a lot.

Once winter has passed, in the spring your dormant (lose/drop leaves in winter) trees will begin to flush and promote more leaves and foliage. If you do not see this transition taking place by late spring, perform the following test:

Take a pair of scissors, a pocket knife or a strong thumb nail and scrape on a branch of the tree to see the inside coloring.

Once scraped, one of the following 3 scenarios will occur.

1. The branch insides are a vibrant yellow and green.

Result: Congratulations, you have a happy and healthy tree.

2. The branch insides are less vibrant yellow with a little green.

Result: Your tree is showing signs of distress. Our best advice in a situation like this would be to cut back all the dead branches back to where the green foliage is and start giving it more water. A tree in distress usually comes from a lack of water or a deep freeze.

3. The branch insides are light brown/beige in color with no signs of green color and looks dry.

Unfortunately, this reveals signs of a dead tree.


Call us if you have questions or need advice on what kind of replacement tree to pick.

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