{"product_id":"bougainvillea-inca-gold-bougainvillea-glabra-inca-gold","title":"Bougainvillea Inca Gold - Bougainvillea glabra Inca Gold","description":"\u003cp\u003eBougainvillea Inca Gold is grown for a colour most bougainvilleas do not offer: warm golden bracts in place of the usual magenta, purple or red. They open a golden orange and soften towards apricot and soft copper as each flush ages, so a plant in full colour usually shows two or three tones at once. Behind the colour sits a trade: like most gold and orange bougainvilleas, it is less forgiving of cold, wet winters and of shade than the classic magentas.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe colour is carried on papery bracts, not petals. The true flowers are the small cream tubes in the centre of each cluster, and the bracts around them hold for weeks before dropping, which is why a single flush gives such a long show.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eHeat, sun and a lean diet\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eGive it the hottest, brightest position you have. Full sun for most of the day is what drives flowering; in part shade it makes leaf and long green canes with little colour. It does well from north Queensland down the east coast to Sydney, and in Perth and the warmer parts of Adelaide. In Melbourne and other cool districts, grow it in a pot on a sunny, north-facing patio where it can be moved under cover for winter, because frost blackens the soft growth and a hard frost can kill a young plant outright. Drainage matters more than soil richness. Sandy or gravelly ground suits it, while heavy clay that stays wet through winter rots the roots. If a pot is the plan, the guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/plants-for-pots-and-courtyards\"\u003egrowing in pots\u003c\/a\u003e sets out the mix and container size.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBougainvillea flowers when it is kept a little hungry and a little dry. Rich soil, frequent watering and high nitrogen fertiliser produce a lush green shrub and few bracts. Once it is established, water deeply but not often, let the soil dry out between drinks, and feed in spring with a flowering plant fertiliser that is higher in potassium than nitrogen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eRoots that resent handling, and thorns that bite\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe roots are fine and brittle, and bougainvillea is notorious for sulking, or collapsing, after rough repotting. Slide it out of its pot carefully, do not tease or break up the root ball, and plant it at the depth it was already growing. In a container it flowers well with its roots fairly snug, so resist moving it up into a much larger pot.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe stems carry sharp, hooked thorns. On a patio that matters more than in a back bed: stand the pot where nobody squeezes past it, wear thick gloves to move or trim it, and wash off any sap, which irritates some skin. Fallen bracts also collect on patio paving, so expect some sweeping in the main flowering months.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eGold, purple or red\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eInca Gold is the pick for warm colour. Its siblings answer other briefs: \u003ca href=\"\/products\/bougainvillea-purple-cascade-bougainvillea-glabra-purple-cascade\"\u003eBougainvillea Purple Cascade\u003c\/a\u003e is grown to hang from the top of a wall rather than climb it, and \u003ca href=\"\/products\/bougainvillea-scarlet-ohara-bougainvillea-scarlet-ohara\"\u003eBougainvillea Scarlet O'Hara\u003c\/a\u003e has the reach and weight for a steel fence or a big pergola, with the heavier pruning that comes with it. The three are listed together under \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/climbers\"\u003eClimbing Plants\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTrim it each time the colour fades, back to a compact frame in a pot or to its support in the ground; the shoots that follow carry the next round of bracts. Pests are few: check the leaf joints for mealybug now and then and treat it with horticultural oil.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is supplied in one size, 300mm, at $189.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot it arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/when-to-plant-trees-and-shrubs-australia\"\u003ewhen to plant in Australia\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"300mm","offer_id":67670340272497,"sku":null,"price":189.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/bougainvillea-inca-gold-bougainvillea-glabra-inca-gold.jpg?v=1791513671","url":"https:\/\/plantdrop.com.au\/products\/bougainvillea-inca-gold-bougainvillea-glabra-inca-gold","provider":"Plant Drop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}