We were walking through a pre-war housing estate when we passed by a man pruning his bougainvillea hard. Since MU and CU have spent the entire gardening budget on soil (sigh), I have to exercise a thicker skin and ask for cuttings wherever I can. So far, I have transplanted 3 pots of portulaca (with different colors), a few rose cuttings, some blue daze, mint, 2 lemon balm plants and 2 yellow irises. Most of these are from my own garden.
I personally don't like bougainvillea, as I found it dreadfully common in Singapore growing up. You could always see it lining both sides of the bridges in the past. Nowadays they are less common after National Parks became more creative with their planting.
The man's bougainvillea was so tall, that it was a tree already. I asked him why was he pruning away all those pretty flowers. He was quite nice, and explained that actually the red flowers are not actually the flower, they are leaves, the flowers are actually the tiny white flower inside the red cluster of leaves. Also, he had to prune as his family would be away for Chinese New Year and if the tree collapses from ill health or lightning strike and hit someone, he could be sued in court.
So I asked him for a cutting and he gave me a super thick stem, saying that I should soak it for roots. MU and CU have a couple of bougainvillea but no flowers. The man said that we shouldn't water it so often. Once a week is enough.
