Need help with Bougainvillea

Dear fellow - gardeners,
I became tempted to buy tropical plants when I retired 3 years ago though I live in Manchester. I am not successful with all my plants though I try to read how to take care of them.
My daughter presented me with 1 flowering bougainvillea about 5 years ago. I tried hard to make it flower but it never did and it didn't survive last winter.
Approximately 4 years ago I bought my second Bougainvillea from Lidl. It flowered only once since then.
According to one recommendation I should water it very rarely only when it is completely dry and not to feed it.
According to the second recommendation I should water it and feed it regularly.
I tried to follow both recommendations. No matter what I do it does not want to flower. I know that it flowers on new growth. So I trim it significantly every autumn.
It is in a pot and I keep it all year round in my unheated hall with a transparent roof, similar to an unheated greenhouse.
I would be grateful for your advice.

 

I think the poor thing needs warmth and sunlight. I do not think an unheated hall is an ideal location.

Bougainvillea go through a dormant period and may even lose their leaves. When dormant they should not be watered nor fed ... they are never fed here. In saying that, I have mine all in the ground except for one which is a Bonsai and I let it go through dry spells.

 

It looks pretty healthy ,only feed tomato feed and then not often, they grow very big, but the pot should contain it and flowers should come on a smaller plant.
It needs direct sunlight, and warmth which judging by the plants behind it is getting.
It should flower on the end of that new growth, I ve got a potted one outside just starting to flower.

 

Does look healthy to me but I would also recommend a potash feed.

 

Sorry to say so but I don’t think bougainvillea is ever going to do well in England. It’s native to South America and needs a warm or even hot climate. I find it very odd that increasingly they are sold in garden centres and even supermarkets here.

 

They are sold as pot plants, in the scheme of things lots of house plants come from warmer countries than us but we have been buying them for years.
Actually Bougainvillea survives in frost free conditions if kept on the dry side over the winter.

I planted one outside and gave it winter protection a few years ago, I've actually killed it off this year as it was too rampant for where I had planted it.

 

Bougainvillea outdoors in the UK.

 

Yours is so beautiful! I am envious.

 

Thank you for your replies. I am stubborn and I am not ready to give up with my unflowering tropical plants. I am trying to be patient and continue caring for my plants.

 

I appreciate your point @pete that lots of plants come from warm climates. Anyone who has seen bougainvillea growing in frost free warm climates will know how big and magnificent they are. To try to replicate that in northern places such as England really needs a hot house on the scale of Kew Gardens or The Eden Project. Your point about it’s vigour is actually part of my original point.....it’s not the plant for our climate.

Your effort is excellent,

 

Mine are in a conservatory with heating in winter, I deliberately keep them in small pots (up to 5lt) as they would take over if I didn't keep cutting them back.

 

I've got a cheese plant, not for our climate I've got cacti, not for our climate, I've got Protea, not for our climate, the list could go on.
Pushing the boundaries is what its about if we stuck to only things that were for our climate the whole house plant market would collapse.

By pot growing you slow that vigour, and with careful management you get a good looking plant, its about achieving that balance and getting the growing conditions right.

 

Can't agree with that. I used to bring Bougainvilleas back from India to live in my UK conservatory and they grew and flowered beautifully, grown in pots and trained on wires. It would be a dreary old world if we could only grow native plants...it's part of the joy of gardening to set ourselves challenges!

 

I am going to leave one of my Kunzeas and Melaleuca Viridis outside this coming winter to see how hardy they are. As you say @pete push the boundaries.

 

I didn’t actually say that. I have plenty of non natives in my garden, though I do have a preference for plants that attract wildlife (though that is another story). The post was specifically about bougainvillea and IMO it doesn’t do well in the our climate. Lucky you to have a large heated greenhouse, most of us don’t. My comments were based on that presumption. I too have seen them growing in hot countries including India, and it is a magnificent site. Also I know that in Mediterranean climates they can die at the briefest wiff of frost.

I am certainly not saying don’t experiment with borderline hardy plants. I do that too, don’t most gardeners? My first comment touched on garden centres recently over the past few years selling them in mass. Up thread someone even mentioned Lidl. I wonder how many survive their first winter , not many I’m sure. My local GC sells them off cheaply at the end of summer. To me it’s obvious why.