Today I would like to pay tribute to the Bougainvillea, a beautiful plant that grows all over our island, showing up everywhere, with great bursts of color. And who's name I just found out I have been SPELLING WRONG my whole life...Ouch. Oh well, I know now....
The actual flower part of the plant is small and white, barely noticable because of the shock of color provided by the leaves that surround it. The leaves feel like paper if you rub one between your fingers...
The leaves are fairly heart shaped
The branches long and woody. And armed with thorns! This one is almost scary, like a purple people eater...
And they can grow to almost 40 feet high...
They come in all sorts of colors...
Including White. Sorry about that chain link fence in the background but I had trouble tracking down white, it became almost a mission. And I doubt if I will ever learn photoshop, if I do that is probably about 10 years off.....the baby palm tree on the left should help make up for it....
They are wonderful decorative borders with or with out a wall to color coordinate them with
And they play well with others .......
They can even be trained!
They can provide ALOT of privacy, and possibly a pretty good barrier for intruders. I have been told by boys that grew up here that they hated trimming these, the thorns are very very sharp. Even mowing a lawn could become dangerous....
I love these colorful plants, but I think what I love most about them the most is that they are everywhere, a happy reminder that no matter how stately they may be presented....
Or if they just add beauty to a fence....casually.....
Or they just have ALWAYS been there for you, growing all crazy looking, like this one on the corner of Eaton and Elizabeth that I always look for while racing around and running errands....it never fails to make me smile, even when it's not at it's best, or most flowery. They are all different yet they all survive here, thorns and all. Just like us.
XO
Smiles,
Toni
XO
Smiles,
Toni
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