Why not both? Can't grow bougainvilla here but I love it and sure would like to grow some.

Bougainvillea can grow larger than all but a very few roses, given a happy enough location and time. There are plants in Southern California that are over 100 years old that cover huge old buildings - square acres of flowers in the summer! But they don't handle the cold like roses can. Worse thorns than roses - like the ones on citrus trees...

Do a lot of research, so you can make a well informed decision about which will do best in your specific location, and which appeals more to you.

Bougainvillea are beautiful but they can get extremely large and even intrusive at times. They have wicked long thorns (like 2in long) so pruning them is quite a challenge. They are not too cold hardy either so make sure they can withstand the temps in your area. (They may not get too large if they die back every year but I wouldn't know since I live in a frost free area). Also bougainvillea flowers don't make good cut flowers nor are they fragrant as roses are. But they sure are easier to care for. Just plant and forget! Also bougans might not flower all season long. Look into your area and see. In my zone they flower all year but in the hottest summer months they take a break.

I would repeat the warning above about them not being cold hardy - even here in my zone 9 area, we get too cold for them in the Winter. They cannot stand ANY freezing temps. Several of my neighbors have tried to plant them, but they all died except one which is on the south wall of a sheltered patio area. They grow great in San Francisco, which has much cooler Summers than we do, but also much milder WInters.

Roses are way more cold hardy, even the most tender teas and chinas.

Jackie

I had a rose bush and a bouganvillea planted in a patio garden. For years they competed, in the winter the roses would flourish and take over, and the summer it was the bouganvillea.

They were both beautiful plants, and I had them for a long time, maybe 13 years when I moved out because we had a loss in our home and I was too sad to be there.

I returned the next year. I had a friend who was moving in town, after living in Alaska, and he wouldn't have a place right away. I thought giving him the vacant place to live would help me accept it, and not fear it as I had. So, I went by to check on the condition, to see what I would need to do.

I parked right in front and my mouth hung opened. WHAT IS THAT? It looked like a huge spray of miniature roses, they were a dark magenta, and they were on what looked like the bouganvilla plant. I was really tired, so I thought I was definitely seeing things. I assumed they would die. I abandoned them, where I was always caring for them.

And I guess their struggles with abandonment coupled with the harsh changing seasons, they managed to cross pollinate and I was looking at the hybrid.

It was a perfect blend of the two plants, the leaves were not waxy like the roses but shaped the same. The thorns were growing in a spiral pattern down the main stem, alternating with thicker, rose like thorns and the same but smaller rose like thorns. The bouganvilla thorns seemed to be gone. But the patterned rise and fall of the thorns reminded me of shark teeth.

The branches were ike the bouganvillas as were the positioning of the blooms that seemed to flow down each leggy limb. What's incredible, are the flowers. There were so many, closely bunched together, and they were the perfect blend of the true red rose petals and the hot fuscia leaf petals on the bouganvilla.

I was so happy my plants decided to quit competing and cooperate. I think they fell in love and married, in the way plants marry. I just had one curiousity. What will this hybrid be like in the hot and cold seasons? I guessed it would be resistant.

Sure enough, while the progenitors still have rises and falls with the seasons, their offspring never has a time not to thrive. It is drought resistant and freeze tolerant.

And it still lives today.

I haven't found a mix of these plants anywhere, and need to have it looked at. We call it the Juliana hybrid.

Roses and Bougainvillea are not even remotely genetically compatible. There's no possible way these two genera can "hybridize".

But...They did. And they did when they were also not in the best health, because I left them without care for about 15 months. It HYBRID blooms in May with amazing sprays of small magenta roses, and only last for about a month.

Why would you say there's no possible way when clearly there is?

"sprays of small magenta flowers lasting about a month", it is because the root stock from the rose planted with the bougainvillea has taken over and is now flowering."

What does this mean? The root stock has taken over? But it has different traits and flowers that don't look like its red roses that it still produced. Are you saying the rose bush has the ability to mimic a hybrid of the two, while sustaining it's normal blooms and traits? What exactly do you mean because it sounds far less believable to me.

I had all three plants growing and blooming at the same time so, the contrast was there, And this plant or bush or shrub blooms yearly..

What you are describing sounds less convincing. And I am surprised someone who sounds like they know something about genetics to mention it, would claim it is impossible. Has it been tried with failure? Have the plants been studied genetically and it's reported findings are such that it is genetically impossible for a rose and bouganvillea to combine? Because I can't find those studies.

I know one thing, getting this response here, coupled with finding no information on the the two combining makes me motivated to have it looked at by a botanist. I am sure they will be as blown away as I was, and as you two are, to the point of saying its impossible, or this is an early April Fools prank.

@Sandra Lozes. "What does this mean? The root stock has taken over? But it has different traits and flowers that don't look like its red roses that it still produced. Are you saying the rose bush has the ability to mimic a hybrid of the two, while sustaining it's normal blooms and traits? What exactly do you mean because it sounds far less believable to me."

In the USA (and many parts of the world), 95% of commercially grown roses are produced by grafting the desired rose variety onto a different, stronger-growing "understock" variety. In the USA, that understock variety is almost always 'Dr. Huey', known for its ease of use and for its ability to instill vigor into the variety that is grafted to it.

If the rose that is grafted to 'Dr. Huey' eventually fails (for whatever reason - it happens frequently if a rose isn't perpetually cared for), then all you have left is 'Dr. Huey' - the understock used to graft onto. A grafted rose is not "a hybrid" - it is two distinct varieties of rose mechanically grafted together. There's nothing magical or mysterious about this - grafting has been practiced in horticulture for aeons.

'Dr. Huey' has red-to-magenta blooms that last about a month at the beginning of the growing season. See the photo in the link for an example of how 'Dr. Huey' blooms look:

Dr. Huey blooms

So, when Kim tells you that he suspects that your original rose has died and the understock has "taken over", he's suggesting that where you once had a rose grafted onto 'Dr' Huey', what you have left now is just 'Dr. Huey' which has taken over now that the variety budded to it has died. This happens VERY frequently and every May/June, you can invariably find hundreds of examples of 'Dr. Huey' in bloom in most any community.

@Sandra Lozes it isn't necessary to have bougainvillea and rose "studied genetically" to determine if they are incompatible. An introductory course in genetics will teach you what you suggest is not genetically possible and why. Wouldn't you think, if it was possible to accomplish such "Island of Dr. Moreau" breeding, it would have already been done to produce blue roses or other long desired oddities? Please feel free to have a botanist inspect your plants. Perhaps they can convince you in person of your mistaken conclusion you refuse to believe in print? I'm honestly surprised that you haven't provided any photographic evidence of your discovery.

"I know one thing, getting this response here, coupled with finding no information on the the two combining makes me motivated to have it looked at by a botanist. I am sure they will be as blown away as I was, and as you two are, to the point of saying its impossible"

It is not possible for a Rose and a Bougainvillea to "hybridize" into one plant. No amount of wishful thinking or flights of fantasy will make it possible. Ask ANY plant breeder in the world.

@User Thank you for sharing the photo of Dr. Huey Blooms. That is very helpful. That is similar to the way the blooms grew on the vine, but they look different, and I will find the photos I have of a sample of each, side by side. The bouganvillea, the rose, and just so I don't have people here making assumptions that I am WISHING this to be when in fact I never once thought about it happening, nor did I want it to happen or tried to make it happen, I have a plant that looks different from the two plants, the leaves are different, the flowers are different, the thorns and pattern of thorn growth is different. Whatever it is, it was very cool to find in my garden.

@roseseek" Please feel free to have a botanist inspect your plants. Perhaps they can convince you in person of your mistaken conclusion you refuse to believe in print? I'm honestly surprised that you haven't provided any photographic evidence of your discovery. "

I refuse to believe in print...are you saying you have said anything that would prove I am wrong? The only print that has been kind and helpful here is Paul's for explaining what DR Huey is and gave a photo so I could see what that looks like.

I have to find the images. The last photos I took of the three together was in 2014. I will post as soon as I find them. I hope you can refrain from your comments and assumptions about how ridiculous I am. I was searching for info on a rose Bouganvillea hybrid online when I came upon this thread. And no. I haven't seen it or read anyone attempting it. Because why would they? It's impossible. You don't have to repeat, I heard you , I heard you.

And I had no idea it is impossible. If you didn't pick it up from my messages here, I am no expert. haha. I know, it is obvious, and I never claimed to know more than any poster on this thread. I don't know much about these plants. I lucked out that they liked where they were planted and it gave them what they needed to stay alive through freezing winters and 100 degree temperatures in summers for years. I have had many roses and bouganvillea die in my care. I just found a sweet spot for the two that allowed them to live close to 20 years now.

@User, thank you for the explanations. I learned something from your post and your link of the flowers. I really appreciate the information. When you see my photos, you can at least understand why I believed it was a hybrid. It isn't some flight of fancy. It is just comparing traits of what appeared to be three different plants with three different blooms, leaves, thorns, and the base of the plant was different, too. I didn't know about the DR Huey thing, but it is very interesting.

If what I have is a take over by a rose bush that is Dr Huey created, so be it. Awesome! Mystery solved. That would make sense. I really want you to see the photos I have. At least you will see why I have been believing what I have. I have shown them to many people, and I guess they all had no idea it is impossible, too.

I live in Austin now, the plants are in Houston. The plant is still very alive. It SEEMS to be more tolerant of extreme temperatures because the other two would be affected by the extremes, the bouganvillea in freezing weather and the rose in the summer heat. But this other plant that is not a hybrid, is tolerant to both extremes. Maybe the Dr Huey, when it loses its red roses, becomes more tolerant, along with other changes. I will definitely look it up. The rose bush has two blooms right now. Two big red roses. Surprising, it barely survived the winter this year, but it did!

The bouganvillea, well it looks (from photos) like it didn't survive this years freeze. But it may have. We almost pulled up the trunk after pruning it down to a trunk years ago after a big freeze. We thought it was definitely dead. I am glad we didn't because It surprisingly came back, pretty as ever. (Please don't say that's impossible, too.)

Okay, I looked up more info about the Dr Huey, and I think that is what I have. It was able to grow out of the rose bush and make another plant. So, I did have 3 separate plants, but it wasn't a hybrid, and the way the flowers grow, and their size and color, and that I happened to have bouganvillea plant there, too,,,I get why I believed what I believed. And since my husband died the year I left, it made the idea one that I liked. Amd, I still like it. But, it lookslike that isn;t the case. There are photos online that look very much the same as what I have, and they also say the leaves are different, so that explains that difference, too. They are also hardier. Thanks again, Paul. I will still post photos, because it is interesting, and so I don.t seem like a crazy person who sees Jesus in her toast with butter. And for those of you who do see Jesus in your butter, the chances are about as good as finding a bouganvilla rose hybrid.