It only survives my zone 8 if I bring it into the garage before the first freeze.

Evidently, I had a bout of wishful thinking, as it is 104F in my zone 5 today.

The wishful thinking was less about your summer temps than it is the winter cold. While an established boug can survive a night or two below freezing, it cannot survive the -10 to -20F temps a winter in zone 5 is likely to produce.

You can certainly grow it in a container and move to an above freezing, protected location for winter but it will never grow into the vine pictured in the photo nor will it bloom with that kind of abandon/profusion.

Which zoning system (A.H.S., Canadian, Sunset, USDA) are you referring to D.K. Haas? It's best for posters to specify which zones they are using so everybody on the thread is definitely talking about the same thing.

I have several in large pots that do very well flowering and all but they come inside and are under HPS lights all winter.

I had 4 in pots for a few years, stored them in the basement for the winter months under growing lights. I am in zone 6a.

You have great taste. I like the picture too! Down in my Zone 8a, it starts to loose its foliage in winter and returns from the ground or leafs out in Spring. However, as everyone else has said, it is very easy to keep it alive in a pot as long as one brings it inside for winter (not an unheated ).

It can grow outside to cold dips but I am not sure just how cold (the low teens for sure here with mulch). My coldest dip this year was 12F. And those are 24-48 hour dips at most. Thus, 8a is probably the coldest (or close) where you can grow it outside..

For your zone 5, gosh, you would have to enclose your whole house as a greenhouse ;o)) in order to get it to grow like in the picture! If you win the lottery one of these days, I suggest you go for it! Hee hee hee! ;o)

I think summer heat will have an influence on how successful it mght be. Even in my very mild PNW location, bougainvillea is not likley to survive a PNW winter in the ground as the lack of summer heat does not encourage ripening the growth enough to survive winter cold nor does it encourage flowering.....in much the same way that crape myrtles do no thrive in this climate even though they survive our winter temps. They seldom flower well, if at all.

Some crape myrtle cultivars have serious trouble blooming here and others do not - certain ones like 'Natchez' and 'Tuscarora' have even been used to line various Seattle streets. With flowering of these plantings being underway as early as July during one recent summer.

My crape myrtle 'Zuni' is covered with blooms every year. I actually see them blooming all over Portland these days. Al's Garden Center started bringing them in big time a few years ago. Shrubs and trees. I go to Atlanta for work so I know what they are supposed to look like in bloom and they are now doing quite well in Portland anyway....Mine is over a decade old but most around town are not that old.

Bougainvillea is one of my favorite plants, having grown up in Phoenix, but sadly even with a heated greenhouse they only survive here for me, they don't thrive...

there is a gigantic bourgainvillea tree here in Louisville KY, zone 6. I was amazed at the sight of it. it's very old and larger than the 2 story farmhouse it's next to.

Wow, I am impressed. Someone else grows one a few miles away from me but, it appeared to me that it was dead meat (above ground) after winter because the stems were always leafless in Spring and the owner would cut them all the way down. It has always returned back from the roots though.

Are you saying that the one in KY does not get deadwood in winter and keeps leafing out all the way from to the second floor?

The one near me is in Zone 8, a "few" miles from the start of Zone 7.

Are you sure it’s a Bougainvillea, Dave? Any chance of a photo?

Yes, photo. The lighter branches of mine, in zone 9, die back after the a light frost. (The trunks remain viable.)

Brought my inside after two cold nights! Clipped back the vine. Lost all the leaves, but stems seem to still be green! I have placed it in a warm sunny area and am watering! Do yiu think it has a chance of survival. Any other suggestions.

Very likely if the roots were not injured by the cold. Mine used to go leaf less at times on its own during the winter months. Do not overwater but do not let it get too dry either. It will need less water in winter but watch the soil for indications of being too dry (insert a finger into the soil to see if the soil feels dry). It does not have foliage anymore and that usually alerts you of trouble like lack of water.

This will work bc one of our schools up here has it growing inside the school all year. If u pull it out with the big pot and pluck it into an area south window or natural light or led lights in a basement it'll be fine. It's a tough plant. I keep it on the west side most of the year it's warm even in December now. Could throw a row cover or burlap over it too it gets too

I am in zone 5 and have mine in a container, sitting on heating duct...and I water it with luke warm water. It's on South side window. It blooms light pink on winter days (while indoors) and hot pink/almost purplish in hot summer days. I take it outside in May and bring it back indoors in October. I had it for 3 years now and it's doing great. I do trim it down a little every spring to maintain its shape.

I bought 1 plant last year in June ,it came in 9 to 10 inches ,survived the zone 6 winter (Ohio) ,thriving too ,now it has grown about 3 6 inches but sadly no blooms till now .