I believe its the variety that makes them big or small. I have a little verigated one that hangs in a basket by my front door and is just the right size. The big ones are definately hard to control. I have one near my veggie garden and I am constantly backing into it and scratching up my legs. the other side of the coin though is when it is blooming in screaming purple and the flame vine is in show in screaming orange beside it....I forget all about the scratches and just enjoy the show! Look for dwarf and semi-dwarf varieties. Good luck!

Are you feeding it a lot or is it in rich soil? These guys can handle poor growing conditions. I have found mine tend to bloom better if i don't feed them as much. Or try laying off the nitrogen for a while.

Bougainvillea loves to be abused. Stick in sand and never feed it and don't over water and it will bloom its head off. The more you pamper it, the more it puts its energy into making leaves rather than blooms.

I read someplace that they bloom on 'new growth' same as roses, so after pruning they should bloom, the trick is the weather and the 'season' figure into this as well....sally

They bloom more if they are root bound. That will also help control the size.

Bury them IN a plastic pot with the bottom cut out, pot and all. That will bind the roots quickly. Also agree... lay off the nitrogen.

Thanks all for your input!I've been lusting after the bouggies I've seen in Cabo growing in big pots and blooming away like crazy on these eentsy small stems. They must prune them within an inch of their lives, but they come right back blooming even on 3 inch branches. When I prune them like that, they don't bloom again until they grow 3' or more! The purple one seems to bloom year around the best. Some of the CA growers say to fertilize a lot and use a specific boug. fert. and others say to starve them. Confusing...

They do bloom on new growth (at least mine do). The key to blooms is pruning. As soon as the flowers are finished, cut the plant back to sub-compact. After it blooms again, cut it back again.

Pinch the tips of new growth!

Thanks Timetraveler,
I see we are neighbors! Yes, I've tried pruning wayyyy back but they still will not bloom again til they'e sent out these sprawling 3' or more branches. Even my 'dwarf' orange one. I'd like to get them to bloom on short stems so the plants stay more compact and densely flowered on short stems.
Thanks Leahreneel,
I have tried to pinch the new growth, but still no blooms til the resulting new stems get way too long and gangly.
How do the growers get their potted plants to bloom so well on such short stems, I wonder. They must pour on the fertilizer in order to push them along to sell as soon as possible!?? Growth inhibitors maybe??

lol,yeah, what they said! My bougainvillea is stuck in indigenous soil in full sun. I've had it for 18 years. I've never watered it, never fertilized it. The only thing I do is give it a SEVERE pruning when it starts to pull the privacy fence panels down OR when I know a freeze is coming.

My boygainvillea is not in full sun, it is in a mottled sun in a pot. I have had it 3mths now and will not flower. I try to only water it once a week or when i see the tips droop. I also cut the new growth back to about 12" from the stem,cause i want a more cimpact plant How can i make it bloom?

I learned something new recently that could help with flowering, though it won't help with keeping them compact. As a bougainvillea grows, at each leaf node there is a chance of one of two things happening; either it will form a thorn or it will form a flower. By clipping a bougainvillea, it often makes it so that the plant will go into 'thorn mode' for a time before going back to flowering (perhaps a defense mechanism?) You can try to force blooming by using specialized fertilizers formulated to induce flowering; these are often found for veggies, but sometimes pretty much the same formulation is packaged as bougainvillea fertilizer and marked up a little more. Ultimately though, the best way to get a bougainvillea to flower is to leave it alone.

Trim it after it blooms. Otherwise you might be cutting off the flower buds.

The video where I learned about the thorns or blooms bit:

Burke's Backyard Bougies

Thanks, Michael! DH will love this video. He hates to prune our bougainvillea.

All very helpful infomativ, thanks! Might have to repot my pink one into poorer soil. Possibly into a smaller pot as well.