›

Paper flower

3 photos

Afifa Afrin / Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 3.0

Paper flower

Bougainvillea glabra

A vigorous evergreen woody climber from Brazil - called primavera or buganvilia in its homeland - grown across the warm world for its long-lasting, brilliant papery bracts in magenta, purple, white, or pink. The vivid color is not from petals: it comes from those papery BRACTS (modified leaves), which surround the small, tubular, cream-colored true flowers tucked at their centers. POWO (Kew) and Flora e Funga do Brasil both record Bougainvillea glabra as native to Brazil. Left to climb it hauls itself up walls, fences, and pergolas to 10 to 30 feet, but kept pruned it makes a dense, mounding shrub; it is armed with sharp thorns and flowers hardest when grown lean, hot, and a little dry in blazing full sun. It is frost-tender and hardy in the ground only in USDA zones 9b-11b; everywhere colder it is grown as a greenhouse, conservatory, or container plant and overwintered indoors. Its name is the field mark: glabra means smooth, and its hairless stems and leaves - plus smaller, more triangular bracts and a freer, near-continuous bloom - are the quickest way to tell it from the softly hairy, larger-bracted B. spectabilis.

Climate fit: narrow (32/100)

Focal point

Structure

Light

Full sun

Water

Low water

Mature size

10-30 ft tall · 10 ft apart

Hardy in zones

9b-11b

frosty to nearly frost-free winters

AHS heat range

4-12

Plant range authored in AHS heat-zone terms.

Native in Illinois

No

Grown strictly as an ornamental - it is not food, and no part is eaten.

°C

°F

Cold hardiness

These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.

Now

Zone 6b

Plotwright

USDA Zone 6b

-5°F to 0°F

Won't grow here

2050

2100

Zone 7a

Plotwright

0°F to 5°F

Won't grow here

In plain terms: This location has cold winters. Its winters are projected to keep warming through 2050.

✕

Out of range today and still out of range in 2050.

Heat tolerance

Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.

Loading AHS heat-zone data for this location...

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 2 ecoregions - 2 climate-resilient through 2070. Best matches first.

California coastal sage and chaparral

›

Fynbos shrubland

›

What it needs

Conditions

Light

Full sun

Water

Low water

Spacing

10 ft

Habit

Vigorous evergreen thorny woody climber from Brazil - frost-tender, drought-tolerant, and grown for its papery bracts (kept as a mounding shrub when pruned); armed with sharp thorns and an irritant sap, ornamental only

Care tips

•

Grow it lean and a little dry in blazing full sun: let the soil dry between waterings and go easy on nitrogen, since overwatering and rich feeding give you leaves instead of the papery bracts you want.

•

Treat zone 9b as the cold edge - it is frost-tender, so in colder regions grow it in a container, keep it in full sun, and move it to a bright, frost-free spot before the first freeze.

•

Prune right after each flush of color, not before: bougainvillea blooms on new growth, so cutting back after flowering shapes the plant and triggers the next wave of bracts.

Lifecycle

Planting

Where hardy (USDA zones 9b-11b), plant in spring in full sun in light, fast-draining soil against a strong support - a sturdy trellis, pergola, wall, or fence - since the mature climber is heavy and vigorous. In colder regions grow it in a container of free-draining mix that can be moved to a bright, frost-free spot for winter. Space plants about 10 feet apart. Handle with gloves: the stems are armed with sharp thorns and the sap can irritate skin.

Transplanting

Bougainvillea resents root disturbance and its roots break easily, so move it as little as possible: plant or pot it up gently in warm weather, keeping the rootball intact, and avoid teasing the roots apart. Pot-grown plants are best slid into a slightly larger container rather than bare-rooted.

Early growth

Train the long, thorny new growth onto its support and let the soil dry between waterings - it flowers far better grown lean and a little dry than lush and wet. Go easy on nitrogen, which drives leafy growth instead of bracts. Wear gloves and long sleeves while tying it in, since the thorns are sharp and the sap can irritate skin.

Maturity

In frost-free climates it matures into a large, evergreen thorny climber that blooms in repeated flushes most of the year, heaviest in warm, dry, sunny spells. It flowers on new growth, so prune right after a flush to shape it and trigger the next; mild water stress and lean soil keep the bracts coming. In cold regions a mature container plant is overwintered indoors and pruned hard.

Propagation

Propagated from semi-hardwood or hardwood stem cuttings taken in summer, rooted in warm, moist, free-draining medium; named color forms are grown from cuttings to come true. It is grown vegetatively rather than from seed in cultivation.

Plant this, not that

Better fit for this place

For Chicago, IL, these are replacement suggestions: similar plants with a stronger hardiness fit now and/or in 2050.

Amelanchier canadensis

Canadian serviceberry

A small native tree with white spring flowers, edible summer berries, and copper to red fall color.

Shrub

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Sambucus nigra ssp. cerulea

Blue elderberry

A large multi-stemmed native shrub-to-small-tree of western North America, named for the dusty powder-blue drupes that ripen in late summer over a waxy bloom. Flat-topped creamy-white flower cymes up to 10 inches across rise above pinnately compound serrated foliage in early summer, drawing birds and butterflies. The cooked fruit is edible and prized for jelly, pie, and wine, but the plant earns a "high maintenance" note for suckering, wind/snow breakage, and a roster of fungal and insect pests.

Shrub

Full sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Wisteria floribunda

Japanese wisteria

Japanese wisteria is a woody deciduous twining climber native to Japan, where it climbs trees and scrambles over woodland margins; it produces the longest flower racemes of any wisteria - pendulous violet, lilac, pink, or white clusters reaching up to 6.6 feet in named cultivars - and a powerful grape-like fragrance in spring. In cultivation it excels as a dramatic focal-point trained over pergolas, arches, or walls, and can become a centenarian specimen. The honest catch is a cluster of serious drawbacks that every gardener must weigh: all parts are toxic (seeds and pods particularly so, a documented cause of poisoning in children and pets); it can take up to a decade to flower from seed; unpruned stems can engulf and structurally damage buildings, trees, and gutters; and it is listed by the Global Invasive Species Database as invasive in parts of North America, Australia, and elsewhere, where it has escaped cultivation and smothers native vegetation.

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Euonymus europaeus

European spindle

A deciduous European hedgerow shrub or small tree grown above all for one of the most arresting autumn shows of any native woody plant - rosy-pink, four-lobed fruit capsules that split to reveal vivid orange-coated seeds, hanging against red-purple foliage. Native across Europe and into western Asia (POWO, Kew), it is a tough, undemanding plant for hedgerows and informal screens that genuinely earns its keep for wildlife: insect-pollinated flowers in spring, seeds taken by birds, and aphid colonies that feed ladybirds and hoverflies. The honest pitch, and it is load-bearing: every part of this plant is toxic if eaten and the colourful fruit is especially so, so it must be sited away from where children might be tempted; it is also a primary winter host of the black bean aphid, so keep it well clear of a vegetable plot. With those two caveats respected, it is a dependable, wildlife-rich native - chosen for honest autumn drama, not for being trouble-free.

Shrub

Full sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Similar plants

Browse lateral options with similar roles, light needs, size, or native-range overlap; these are not filtered for a better climate fit.

Brugmansia suaveolens

Angel's trumpet

Angel's trumpet (Brugmansia suaveolens) is a large, soft-wooded shrub or small tree hung with enormous pendulous trumpet flowers - up to 12 inches long, white aging to soft blush, and intensely fragrant in the evening and at night. Native to the Atlantic Forest of south-eastern Brazil (POWO, Kew; Flora e Funga do Brasil), it is now classified Extinct in the Wild by the IUCN and survives only in cultivation, which makes a familiar garden plant quietly remarkable. It grows fast and thirsty in warmth (USDA zones 9b-11b) and is frost-tender, so in cold-winter areas it is grown in a large container and overwintered under cover. The load-bearing warning is its toxicity: EVERY PART IS HIGHLY TOXIC, loaded with tropane alkaloids (scopolamine, atropine, hyoscyamine), and poisonings can be severe or fatal - never plant it where children or pets could reach it.

Shrub

Full sun / Part shade

Armand clematis is a vigorous evergreen climbing shrub native to much of China (except the north and extreme south) and northern Myanmar, grown for its profusion of almond-scented, star-shaped white flowers in early spring (March-April) on the previous season's wood. It excels as a structure-covering climber on sheltered walls, pergolas, and fences, providing year-round glossy, deep-green foliage. The honest catch is its rampant vigor: in a favored site it can overwhelm host structures within a few years, sheds masses of dead leaves through the year (a persistent litter problem), and all parts are toxic to cats, dogs, and horses (and the sap irritates skin) - and it is only reliably hardy to about USDA zone 7b with the shelter of a warm wall, making it a borderline plant anywhere colder.

The Mediterranean evergreen whose leathery, glossy dark-green leaves are the bay leaf of the kitchen. Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder describes it as a pyramidal, aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub that can reach 60 feet but is usually seen at 10 to 30 feet and is often pruned to 8 feet or less for garden use. Trees are dioecious: small yellowish-green spring flowers on female plants, if pollinated, give way to single-seeded purple-black berries. Winter hardy only to USDA Zone 8, so it is grown as a clipped container houseplant farther north.

Shrub

Full sun / Part shade

Sambucus nigra ssp. cerulea

Blue elderberry

A large multi-stemmed native shrub-to-small-tree of western North America, named for the dusty powder-blue drupes that ripen in late summer over a waxy bloom. Flat-topped creamy-white flower cymes up to 10 inches across rise above pinnately compound serrated foliage in early summer, drawing birds and butterflies. The cooked fruit is edible and prized for jelly, pie, and wine, but the plant earns a "high maintenance" note for suckering, wind/snow breakage, and a roster of fungal and insect pests.

Shrub

Full sun / Part shade

A vigorous, semi-evergreen climbing vine from subtropical southern South America, grown for its intricate, unmistakable flowers - white-to-pale-blue petals beneath a crown of blue-and-purple-banded filaments. POWO (Kew) and Flora e Funga do Brasil record it as native to southern Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. It is by far the hardiest commonly-grown passionflower, root-hardy to roughly zone 6b/7 and resprouting after a freeze, and it climbs fast by tendrils to clothe a fence, arch or trellis. The egg-shaped orange fruit that follows is edible but bland and insipid - it is NOT the commercial passion fruit - and the leaves and unripe fruit contain cyanogenic compounds, so only the ripe pulp is safe to eat. Its vigour is a warning as much as a virtue: in mild climates it suckers and self-seeds and can become weedy or invasive, so give it room and curb it.

Shrub

Full sun / Part shade

Ceanothus thyrsiflorus

Blueblossom

The hardiest and largest of the California lilacs - a fast-growing broadleaf-evergreen shrub of the Pacific coast that smothers itself in dense thyrse clusters of pale-to-deep blue flowers in spring. Glossy three-veined, finely toothed dark-green leaves and a billowing shrub habit make it a signature blue mass on West Coast slopes. Drought tolerant once established, it asks for little summer water and resents overwatering; deer and elk browse the foliage and the bloom is a documented draw for native bees.

Shrub

Full sun / Part shade

Appears in collections

Paper flower (Bougainvillea glabra) - a mature plant trained as a dense rounded shrub, showing the whole-plant habit with its dense, thorny, evergreen green-leaved canopy.

Chinese hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) - large funnel-shaped flower, long projecting staminal column, red throat, glossy toothed leaves.

Sweet thorn (Vachellia karroo) - broad, rounded crown of fine bipinnate foliage typical of the sweet thorn, golden puff-ball flowers densely covering the canopy in summer flush, mature single-trunk tree habit set in its native south african veld/grassland.

A Cape honeysuckle (Tecomaria capensis) shrub with arching evergreen foliage and clusters of slender orange tubular flowers.

+2

Collection · 6 plants

Warm flowering screen

A colorful warm-climate screen and hedge palette for frost-light gardens: flowering shrubs, scrambling color, wildlife nectar, and dry-season structure.

Lion's ear (wild dagga)

Cape leadwort

Educator packet

Plant packet

Paper flower educator packet

A vigorous evergreen woody climber from Brazil - called primavera or buganvilia in its homeland - grown across the warm world for its long-lasting, brilliant papery bracts in magenta, purple, white, or pink. The vivid color is not from petals: it comes from those papery BRACTS (modified leaves), which surround the small, tubular, cream-colored true flowers tucked at their centers. POWO (Kew) and Flora e Funga do Brasil both record Bougainvillea glabra as native to Brazil. Left to climb it hauls itself up walls, fences, and pergolas to 10 to 30 feet, but kept pruned it makes a dense, mounding shrub; it is armed with sharp thorns and flowers hardest when grown lean, hot, and a little dry in blazing full sun. It is frost-tender and hardy in the ground only in USDA zones 9b-11b; everywhere colder it is grown as a greenhouse, conservatory, or container plant and overwintered indoors. Its name is the field mark: glabra means smooth, and its hairless stems and leaves - plus smaller, more triangular bracts and a freer, near-continuous bloom - are the quickest way to tell it from the softly hairy, larger-bracted B. spectabilis.

Scientific name

Bougainvillea glabra

Plant type

shrub

Hardiness

9b-11b

Light

full-sun

Moisture

low

Spacing

120 inches