How to Get Bougainvillea on Walls

Bougainvillea (Bougainvillea spp.) is a flexible, colorful and versatile shrub that extends 15 to 40 feet wide or tall, depending on its training. Its height depends on the support structure, but bougainvillea easily reaches upward with a wall nearby and some shaping. Bougainvillea functions as a potted specimen supported by a trellis, grows into a small tree or cascades over the side of a wall. If left unpruned, it may naturally climb a wall on its own, but some pruning helps train the growth. Purple, red, lavender and yellow flowers appear throughout the year.

Pruning shears
Trellis (optional)

Instructions

- 1
  Pinching soft, new growth tips encourages a fuller appearance. The tips should just be one-half inch long and are removed between your thumb and forefinger. New stems grow from the tips. The more often you pinch, the more branches grow, which can be trained toward the wall. This also creates more blooms. It is best accomplished after a flowering cycle, which occurs every four to six weeks.
- 2
  Setting up a large trellis encourages the plant to grow upright and closer to the wall. Setting large stakes near the plant also encourages them to twine upward in a desired fashion. Support structures are not necessary for encouraging a bougainvillea up a wall, but direct its growth and are better support for vining specimens.
- 3
  Pruning the plant with shears directs its growth and sends shoots toward a desired location. Maintain desired size and shape. Bougainvillea can be kept small and compact, even functioning as a bonsai specimen or allowed to send its stems wildly outward.
- 4
  Plant bougainvillea near the edge of a wall or in containers on top of it for a cascading growth down the wall’s other side.

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