The purple form can take 27 degrees unharmed, 26 degrees with leaf loss but the vine itself is fine...I've heard that it is "vine hardy", not "leaf hardy" to 23-24 degrees..anything lower than that and it becomes a "perennial". If you type in hardy bougainvillea to "google.com", it'll bring up b. spectabilis, I believe, also known as hardy bougainvillea...I had thought it was called b. brasilensis, but a lady in SOFLA corrected me...if you are a 9b climate, or a 9a in a protected area, your bougie will probably do fine.

thanx wilminton islander!!!!!!

jxa44, You didn't indicate how much frost you get but most low elevation climates in California can support bougainvillea. We get some light frosts (inland SF Bay Area) and ours don't even stop blooming! They are extremely vigorous. We have "San Diego Red" and some pink one and they are great.

Thanx kerrican2001,

we actually live in an area in northern california that gets frequent hard frosts (and in feb it is not uncommon for it to snow).

I am drawn to plants that don't do well in our cold winters -- so I guess I'll be doing a lot of winter protecting.

why is it that I always want to grow plants that my micro climate doesn't easily support? ;-)

i lived in Santa Rosa and grew them trained against the house// most winters they froze back ,,but they would bloom on the new wood

i planted a bunch of them in groups of threes ,, that way at least you had some leaves if they all froze back and had to recover

san diego red and the common purple one are the hardiest .... texas sunset hates the cold , but is beautiful
good luck

Thanks for all these great feedback! I'm researching to make my purchase of my favourite bougies. Is there a good source for mail order? I live in Ontario Canada. Thanks!