When we lived in Florida we had a to remove a bougainvillea that had gotten too big and unruly and as I remember the root ball was quite large. The vine itself was about 8ft high and wide spread on a stucco wall. Based on that experience I would say our pots need to be much, much bigger and you should repot and put them on the deck now.

eta: from your thread title I was expecting something tres different!

Read this blog, and I think you'll eventually need to cut it back so it will keep blooming. They are such pretty plants.

Based on the size pots you see with very large, tall plants, I think you're going to need to eventually repot to larger pots:

Definitely large containers. While up and over would be stunning, along the outside walls would be easier to manage their care and keep the poorhouse and pool clean.

Oh my...I love that pink one. Would go so well with our pool area. I already have to cover our now HUGE saga palms every winter. I will have to figure this out, for sure!

LOL, i like the typo (though running and maintaining this pool in the CT winter will put you in the poorhouse). I have my heart set on "up and over," so you can see it when you enter the pool pavillion at the far end. This is far enough from the pool that it won't be dropping leaves in it.

Maybe I should do one against the wall and one up and over and one just in a pot.

Oly, those vines are enormous relative to the pots.

Oakley, funnily enough, I don't want a lot of blooms. I'd even be happy if it was all green. I didn't pick them for blooms, I picked them for their tolerance of the desert-like humidity in there. And they are doing very well. My lemon trees, not so much. Both of them were totally denuded of leaves at one point. My gardener fed them and they were covered in white blossoms; when I opened the door to the pool area the scent was fantastic. But I don't think they were supposed to do that. Shortly thereafter they lost everything. Now we are pretty much back to what they looked like when i got them lst Sept.

i dont understand.. if there is a pool in there.. and the room is at 82 degrees ... how the humidity is so low ...

and seeing the snow outside.. how the windows arent all fogged up .. or have ice on them ... even if double pane ...

what am i missing.. beside probably.. the obvious,, lol

yes.. get them off the tables.. i suppose they were there to get sun on the whole plant .... but if you look at the last pic above ... its all trunk to 4 or 5 feet ... and thats in full sun ... so you may as well get yours down to the floor ...

ken

mtn, I think getting it started, like you did, is the hardest part. It will probably take off when you get it outside in the right weather.

I would move them off of the tables. I also know that bougainvilleas bloom best in pots when they are root-bound. With that being said, I think if you want them to continue growing taller you do need bigger pots.

Texanjana, I assume you mean when they are not rootbound?

Olliesmom - they are never going outside. I want them to climb up and over the crossbars that span the conservatory that adjoins the pool area.

Hi Ken,

The pool pavilion's humidity is controlled via a system called a Dectron, housed it its own room, usually used in hotels and the like. It enables us to have a indoor pool that is in a room with regular drywall, year round. It runs pretty much Oct-April. After that we can turn the system off and just leave the doors open.

Adjoining the area with the pool is a glass conservatory that we added. We have been here 10 years and the few times we tried growing anything there, they just couldn't take it the dryness. So after some research I decided bougainvillea and lemon trees might have a shot. I got them this past September. The bougainvillea plants were on tables because I wanted to be able to see them looking from the pool into the conservatory. And because I wanted them to grow up and across the white metal struts (see top right corner of pic 1), so i seemed easier to bring them closer..

As for your comments about pic 3, that is a lemon tree. I have two flanking the doors there. I want them to have a tall trunk; that is intentional. But I hadn't thought about whether the bougainvillea will look like that if they are on the floor? Also, if i start them from the floor I guess they will need a structure to climb? Right now one has bamboo sticks, the other has about a 3' trellis.

In re root-bound: Bougainvillea DO like to be root-bound.

Curious, is the door near the tree opened?

If it was/is opened for even a short time, they may have gotten enough of a chill to drop leaves

Citrus trees like warm weather but do best in temperatures that don’t go much above 60 to 65 degrees F. (15-18 C.) Further, whether you have your citrus trees indoors or out, you should make sure the temperature doesn’t fluctuate; that it is more of a constant temperature. This will definitely help stop leaves falling off a citrus tree.

Read more at Gardening Know How: Learn What Causes Leaves Falling Off A Citrus Tree https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/citrus/leaves-falling-off-citrus-tree.htm

Cyn, thanks for clarifying, who'da thought?

Gizmo, I wonder that myself. My family knows not to open those doors since we turned on the system and closed up the room in October, but a landscaper or workman could have opened it. I was thinking of putting up a lil' sign.

You could buy large floor planters and put the bougainvillea in them in a plastic pot so that the roots stay contained within that pot and fill the rest of the space with soil and put moss on top to cover the edges of the plastic pot.

As the plastic pot fills and becomes over root bound you can expand its size until it's big enough for the planter itself.

This way you can have huge floor pots without compromising the growth of the bougainvillea.

I highly recommend these large pots -- I just got another one for a pygmy date palm I need to repot. They are made of ficonstone, so they are light but don't look cheap and plasticky.

https://www.rejuvenation.com/catalog/collections/dell-all-weather-planter/products/5eab364dfc1ebc4e86e91e26

Get the largest one and put it on the floor in its permanent location. Also, take care when transplanting your bougie -- they hate having their roots disturbed.

We live in So Cal, most neighbors have citrus. We added a dwarf lemon tree to our garden a couple of years ago. The first year it had blossoms but no fruit, last year I think 3 lemons and this year a bumper crop. So it may take a bit of time for you to see much fruit.

Hi Jill, We are in CT ---- the lemon tree is indoors (sort of). I just bought them in Sept and one arrived sporting a lemon. It has held on, LOL. I don't care about fruit, I chose it for its form and foliage and in the hope it could live w 22% humidity 6 mo.s of the year! I did start add food to every watering (1/4 tsp) so we will see how they like that.

Jojoco, I love clay pots almost as much as the plants. I like clay pots so much I use real claypots to make the infamous kids treat, dirt. I also have quite an inventory of them, and several wheely bases.

Good idea, Bumble. I love moss too!

Cyn, good to know!

I absolutely LOVE clay pots and have a bunch of that upside down one with the edges.

They are great for plants too and let them breathe. They are heavy as heck to move but i don't care.

Here is my dirt dessert for a kid's party. The flowers are real gerbera daisies, stuck inside a cutoff, buried, thick plastic straw.

I also love clay pots, but for a plant that's going to live in that pot for many years (or forever?) you need a container that's too big to be made of clay. Citrus trees are usually grown in containers made of wood (traditionally they are square, often painted white, and are opened from the side). I think they're known as the "Versailles planters"). Ficonstone is another good option. Even though it's light, once it's filled with potting mix it's very hard to move. But at least it's possible, with a few helpers :)

Look at those trunks! That is a problem I hope to have. Look at my pic; it's a glorified twig and even so I nearly killed it. Its blossoming again today, yum.

Seriously, I haven't gone thru our inventory, but I am pretty sure I can use a clay pot for the foreseeable future. Right now, they are on rollers. But my DH has a 35 yo houseplant in a clay pot, too big for rollers, and we have the gardeners move it in for the winter.

Sorry, I don't mean to be Debbie Downer here, but I suspect this photo was taken at a large estate in Spain, Italy or Southern France. These trees live outside all their lives. If there's a cold snap, maintenance guys load them up on forklifts and take them to the greenhouse just for a while.

You should be happy with your twig! But please, give it a bigger pot soon and make sure it lives outside most of the time.

My pic was simply in response to your comment that clay pots are not made big enough.... the pic has no other significance.

My twig/tree will probably not be moved. Hard to explain the conditions but essentially it is and 82F/22H conservatory until about June-Sept, when we open multiple sets of french doors and windows.

Mtnrdredux,

.... the pic has no other significance.

When you posted the pic, you also expressed hope that your tree will look like this one day:

Look at those trunks! That is a problem I hope to have. Look at my pic; it's a glorified twig and even so I nearly killed it. Its blossoming again today, yum.

I'm only pointing out that you may have to lower your expectations growing it in CT.

You also mentioned that your tree is not doing well. I was only trying to help -- I have some experience growing citrus. But never mind... 🤷 I'm getting the message! 😉

Tone is hard to read here Jojo. Growing my lemon tree to the point that I won't be able to find a clay pot to fit it in is just not my current concern. (though, sarcastically, one can hope). My expectations are in line with an indoor plant in my zone; my photo was simply to counter the statement that clay pots don't come big enough, that's all.

I'd imagine that, even though I have followed the grower's advice, everyone probably has to do some trial and error in their own location/conditions to learn what works best. You are so lucky to be in a climate where they can grow outdoors; that is a totally different opportunity!

Tone is hard to read but I understood in the context of everything that the picture was to display those gorgeous huge clay pots and what goes in them is really irrelevant.

Hopefully the lemon tree will make it but if not on to something else and plenty of people do have lemon trees in conservatories so I think there's a good chance with everybody looking out for it that it will grow and thrive.

I agree that tone is hard to read, but we just have to trust each other that our intentions are good. Gardeners are mostly a helpful bunch, always ready to jump in and share our experiences. We all know how to google, but it's that personal experience that makes this site such a great resource.

I've lived and gardened all over the country, including New York (city and state) and I used to grow citrus in you zone (winter inside -- summer outside). It was a constant struggle, even though my conditions were very good. Flower drop, leaf drop, too much fertilizer, not enough fertilizer.... I could go on and on. So I was just trying to share what I know will give you best results. Hope your tree recovers and thrives for years to come.