How to Grow Paper Flowers

The bougainvillea is a tropical plant that produces brightly colored flowers for 11 months of the year if grown in the right climate. It is a shrub-like climbing plant that spreads on walls and fences and will flower again every year if the plant is not brought out to grow in cold temperatures. See the following steps for how to grow and care for bougainvillea.

Table of Contents

Planting Paper Flowers

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Decide whether to plant in the ground or in a pot. The bougainvillea thrives in hot and relatively dry places. If you want to grow your flowers outdoors year-round, it’s best to plant them in a zone that tolerates temperatures of 9 or higher. If you live in a cooler and more humid region, you can still grow bougainvillea if you grow it in a pot and bring it indoors when winter arrives.

Bougainvillea grows best when the night temperature is above 16 degrees Celsius and the daytime temperature does not exceed 38 degrees Celsius.
The bougainvillea can withstand wintering in basements or in low-light areas.

Find a sunny spot in your yard. The bougainvillea is a light-loving species and will grow best in a sunny, open space facing North (in the Southern Hemisphere) and South (in the Northern Hemisphere). The bougainvillea needs at least 5 hours of sunlight per day to thrive.

Choose an open, well-drained soil. Bougainvillea doesn’t grow well in areas where the soil contains too much water, so make sure the potting soil is well drained. They need nutrient-rich soil that is slightly acidic, and has a pH between 5.5 and 6.0.

Add limestone to the soil to raise the pH or add sulfur to lower it as needed.
If you plan to grow bougainvillea in a pot, choose a soil mix with the right pH.

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Plant paper flowers. Dig a hole as deep as the tree’s roots. Add a fertilizer with a high percentage of phosphate to stimulate root growth and promote blooms. Lift the plant out of the pot, wet the roots, and put it in the hole. Gently pat the soil around the base of the tree.

If you want bougainvillea to grow on a fence or wall, be sure to plant it near those places. As it grows, you need to bend the creeper up a fence or wall by wrapping it gently around the fulcrum.
If you are going to grow bougainvillea in a pot, make sure to choose a pot with plenty of drainage holes as bougainvillea won’t survive in water.

Paper Flower Care

Sufficient watering. Provide a balanced amount of water just enough to keep the soil moist, but not so much that the plant is waterlogged.

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Fertilize regularly. Fertilize the plant every few months to promote blooms. But fertilizing too often will cause the plant to grow quite strongly, so if you notice that the plant is becoming dense, cut back on the fertilizer.

Most bougainvillea gardeners regularly fertilize at a 1:1:1 or 2:1:2 ratio, not a high-phosphate fertilizer used at planting. Organic fertilizers or slow-release fertilizers work best. ^{[1] X Research Source}
Make sure to fertilize at least once a year in early spring to get growth started.

Bring bougainvillea indoors in winter. If you live in a cold winter climate and you grow bougainvillea in a pot, bring it indoors when winter comes. If you leave the flower pot outside it will not survive inclement weather. ^{[2] X Research Source}

Cut paper flowers. The bougainvillea is a flowering plant and needs to be pruned properly to stimulate blooms and keep the plant in good shape. After the bougainvillea ends its flowering season, cut it off by a few centimeters. This will promote healthy growth next spring. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Wear gloves when pruning bougainvillea. Some people may develop a skin rash when pruning bougainvillea similar to when touching ivy.

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Bending and creating confetti. The bougainvillea needs support to cover walls, fences and other places. If you like the plant to grow with a firm stance in one place, you can hang parallel rows of wire against the surface of the wall or fence you want the plant to cover. Bend the confetti and direct it to the back of these metal wires. Observe growth and edit as needed until the bougainvillea begins to spread on walls and other surfaces.

Advice

Avoid over-watering the bougainvillea, this hinders flowering and worse, causes root rot, which destroys the plant.
In general, bougainvillea is relatively less susceptible to pests and diseases. Caterpillars, aphids, and moths can be a problem.

Warning

Wear gloves and long sleeves when pruning bougainvillea.

Things you need

Fertilizers with a high phosphate ratio.

Steps

Planting Paper Flowers

Paper Flower Care

Advice

Warning

Things you need

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