MY FAVOURITE GARDEN FLOWERS (2)

I am trying valiantly to keep this theme going so my next favourite garden flower I have chosen the Bougainvillea spp.   We have 4 plants of different colours in our garden but for some reason this year the 'miniature' ones have gone feral on us and spread all over a part of the back garden.  Lots of pruning now needed which will not be very pleasant with all those nasty spikes.

Of late I've noticed that many people are planting them on their back fences where they back on to main roads.  I guess they think the spikes will deter any would-be burglars who may be in the area.

I love the vibrant colours of the bougainvilleas.   We have an orange, a deep red, a bright mauve and a terracotta colour.  All different but all very lovely. 

I remember on our trip to Carnarvon years ago marvelling at the beauty of the bougainvilleas.  Of course they grow quite rampamt up north as they truly love the hot weather.

The first European to describe these plants was Philbert Commercon, a botanist accompanying French Navy admiral and explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville during his voyage of circumnaviation of the earth, and first published for him by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in 1789.  It is possible that the first European to observe these plants was Jeanne Bare, Commercon's lover and assistant who was an expert in botany; because she was not allowed on the ship as a woman, she disguised herself as a man in order to make the journey (and thus became the first woman to circumnavigate the globe).