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Sorry for showing my ignorance! But are these deciduous or semi deciduous?--Leigh
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Bougainvillea is sub-tropical, hardy to US Zone 9. They maintain foliage year around, unless they suffer a frost, in which case they will drop their leaves. It's not dormancy in the deciduous sense, and they will leaf out again or perhaps bloom right away.
In my basement it's too cool and the artificial light too dim to keep them growing vigorously, and they sort of go to sleep. During that time they drop a lot of their leaves. When I put them outside in May, they will jump right back into action.
My daughter left for college last fall, and I acquired her room which has a couple of nice sunny windows. I experimented with putting five bougies in that window. I have the bloomer that I posted, two others with very modest bloomage, and two that are putting on very unacceptable, long, leggy growth with large, flacid leaves. So much for my experiment. I think they're just as well off in the basement, except that it's sure nice to have the bloomer.
Prowler--I'm working on a thoughtful answer for you, so stand by. I hope Paul will chime in too.
DR