How to Hard-Prune a Bougainvillea

Native to tropical South America, bougainvilleas are widely grown in gardens and landscapes in frost-free areas. In more temperate zones, bougainvilleas are grown in containers and stored dormant in a protected location during the winter months. Because they produce flowers based on day length and not as a result of pruning or not pruning, bougainvilleas dependably produce flowers, even when most of the plant is removed when they are hard-pruned.

Pruning clippers
Pruning saw

Instructions

- 1
  Evaluate the natural shape and appearance of your bougainvillea vine. Determine how many of the main branches you will retain, as well as how many and which main branches will be pruned off.
- 2
  Cut back to the woody part of the vine, using the pruning clippers for thick branches and the pruning clippers for branches smaller than cigar-size. Make the cuts with an eye to how the plant will look when new growth emerges from the cuts in spring. Perform this type of hard pruning just before bringing the plant indoors for the winter months.
- 3
  Cut back branches of bougainvillea growing in containers just to the inside edge of the container. When spring comes, the bougainvillea will put out several new growth tips below the cuts on each of the branches. This will result in a fuller, more lush, hanging flowering plant next summer.

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