Ode to the Bougainvillea | An Arizona Native
If you are native to Arizona or the desert southwest, you are familiar with the bougainvillea. It’s everywhere. Newcomers and those snowbirds, however, are not as familiar with this fabulous little perennial. They love its beautiful blooms and wandering nature.
Gardening in the Tucson area can be tricky. Even if you had a greenthumb elsewhere in the United States, it may not be as apparent here. The desert, with its wide range of temperatures and lack of rainfall, can wreak havoc with many a garden.
My grandfather was a gentleman farmer. He had 20 acres in Southfield, Michigan. He grew everything imaginable, from heirloom tomatoes to grapes that he crushed by hand. Well, technically, he crushed them by foot and made homemade wine. He sold the excess produce at a little roadside stand on a street that is now a 6-line asphalt beast. He had one of those infamous green thumbs.
When he and my grandmother retired to Arizona in 1970, he tried to set up a small garden plot on his suburban lot. He tried and tried to grow tomatoes and other vegetables, but repeatedly failed. The only plant that prospered in his yard was the bougainvillea. It thrived. It was beautiful.
That’s the nature of a bougainvillea. You can’t kill it no matter how much of a learning curve there is to gardening in Tucson. If you give it a little TLC, cover it when there is a frost warning and water it during those unbearably hot summer months, it will bloom its little heart out for you.










