Bougainvillea

Hi
I bought a Bougainvillea from our local Wilkinsons store. It hadn't been watered at all Iv'e given it a good watering and it seems to have picked up. Can it be planted outside or will it have to be kept in the conservatory. I would love it to be in the garden but I don't really know if it is a pot plant over here as I have really only seen them on our hols in Italy etc, any help would be gratefully received.

 

I have seen how Winkinson's neglect their plants! and have rescued a few myself. Bougainvillea is sub tropical so they are not suited to our climate all year round. They can be put outside in a larger pot than you bought it in but not too big, they hate root disturbance.
The only varieties that do well outside are the familiar purple(glabra) ones. The other cultivars are not so hardy and may not flower well outside, they are more suited to a greenhouse or conservatory.
I find that they will take temperatures down to -2/3c but below that usually kills them off.
I put mine outside in late april (these are mature plants 3ft high) which have dropped their leaves during winter in a polytunnel but do not start growing untill july and flower from august through till late november. Smaller plants are ok outside for the summer but keep them in pots.

 

Thank you Yes I rescued about 6 different plants some of which are not doing so well but at least if they don't make it they will have had a little TLC first. I think I will put it in the conservatory then it is the purple type but last winter we had a lot of frost and snow so perhaps it will benefit from having a more constant temperature.

 

Bougainvilleas flower on new wood, so I feed mine furiously with Hi N for 3 or 4 weeks to encourage shoots, then Hi K for 3 or 4 weeks to encourage flowers, alternately all through the summer. If you can stop them loosing their leaves during the winter they get a flying start the next year, but its very difficult.