Re: bouganvillea on wall
- Subject: Re: bouganvillea on wall
- From: J* S*
- Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 15:33:04 -0800 (PST)
Angela:
I've tried covering wide expanses of house with
bougainvillea and I've never had much real success.
It's like trying to put some special flowering ground
cover on a slope that isn't quite suited to the site
-- it looks floppy, it never fills in, and it's high
maintenance.
My thinking would be, assuming you have a
semi-substantial planting area against that wall of
the house, to plant a small copse of deep-rooted,
upright, smallish trees there. Coming quickly to
mind: Eucalyptus pulverulenta, Pittosporum
phillyraeoides, or Lyonothamnus.
To add more interest or even some color to the
palette, plant a few vines at the base of the trees
after a year or two to allow the trees to get
established. Maybe Lapageria, Pandorea jasminoides,
Gelsemium, Mandevilla, or maybe even a climbing
Asparagus.
There's a Jacaranda not far from my house, with a
salmon-flowered bougainvillea planted at its base and
climbing into the canopy. Come flowering time, the
combination of the lilac and salmon is ABSOLUTELY
fabulous.
If you planted magenta-flowered bougainvilleas at the
base of the Euc. pulverulentas, the deep neon purple
of the bouggie would seriously JUMP OUT against the
foil of the gray foliage of the Euc.
Joe
--- "LEE,ANGELA IUE-CHIH" <angelale@ucla.edu> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> Does anyone have experience growing a large
> bouganvillea on the side of a
> house? Does the vine need to be attached to
> something, like guide wires
> or some type of structure? and what happens if the
> house needs to be
> painted? Does the plant ruin paint or stucco? Do
> pigeons or rats nest in
> the vine? Those homes with vines dangling off
> balconies and draped around
> windows look terribly picturesque in books but how
> does it work in real
> life?
>
> We are going to add a second story with the result
> that one side of the
> house will be tall and bare. I would like to add a
> low maintenance and
> colorful vine that reaches up to the second story as
> a budget way to perk
> up our very plain house.
>
> Thanks for any advice,
>
> Angela
> sunset 24
> coastal Los Angeles
>
=====
Joe Seals
Santa Maria, California --
where the weather is always perfect
and my garden always has something blooming
and birds galore
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