Scarlett O'Hara Bougainvillea - 5 Gallon

Scarlett O'Hara Bougainvillea produces clusters of deep, vivid magenta-red bracts with the intense, passionate color that inspired its dramatic name. The color is rich, saturated, and long-lasting, maintaining its visual impact over an extended bloom season that can span months in frost-free climates. Like all bougainvilleas, what appear to be petals are actually modified leaves called bracts that surround the small, true white tubular flowers within. The bracts of Scarlett O'Hara are particularly densely produced, creating a lush, floriferous display that makes this variety one of the most reliably heavy-blooming bougainvilleas available.

Vigorous stems reach 20 to 30 feet with support and require full sun — a minimum of 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight — for the most prolific bract production. Like all bougainvilleas, it thrives in hot, sunny, dry conditions where most other plants struggle. Water deeply only when soil is completely dry; drought stress between deep waterings actually encourages more abundant flowering. Provide average to lean, fast-draining soil — excellent drainage is critical. Exercise extreme caution when planting: bougainvillea roots are uniquely brittle and must not be disturbed, loosened, or broken during the transplanting process. Always wear heavy gloves when working with bougainvillea due to sharp thorns on the stems.

• Root caution: Slide gently from container without disturbing the root ball; damaged roots cause severe transplant shock.
• Pruning: Prune lightly after each bloom flush to stimulate new growth for subsequent bract production.
• Fertilizing: Apply balanced fertilizer in spring; avoid high-nitrogen formulas that favor leaves over bracts.
• Support: Provide a strong, sturdy support structure for the vigorous, thorny stems.
• Overwintering: In zones below 10, bring containers indoors before frost; place near the sunniest available window.

Scarlett O'Hara's vigorous habit and deep magenta-red color make it an ideal choice for large-scale warm-climate landscape use. Train it on arbors and pergolas for dramatic overhead shade with color. Espalier flat against sun-drenched walls for a living tapestry of deep red. Allow to cascade down slopes and banks as a colorful groundcover with erosion-control benefits. Use in containers as a spectacular seasonal annual in northern gardens. The deep magenta-red provides exceptional contrast in Mediterranean-style gardens with white stucco, terracotta, and tile elements.

Scarlett O'Hara Bougainvillea is rated for USDA Zones 10 through 11 as a frost-tender evergreen perennial that blooms abundantly and reliably year-round in frost-free climates. In all cooler zones, it is grown as a warm-season annual, providing months of spectacular tropical color from spring through fall before temperatures drop below its tolerance. Container specimens can be successfully overwintered indoors in a sunny window and returned outdoors after all frost risk has passed the following spring.

Scarlett O'Hara Bougainvillea, also widely known by its alternative name San Diego Red, is one of the most tested and proven bougainvillea varieties available, with a long history of reliability in warm-climate American gardens. Like all bougainvillea cultivars, its ancestry ultimately traces to South American species discovered by European naturalists during Louis-Antoine de Bougainville's circumnavigation voyage of 1766 to 1769. The spectacular papery bract displays that define bougainvillea's appeal are not true flowers but modified leaves (bracts) that evolved over millions of years to attract pollinators to the small, otherwise inconspicuous white tubular flowers nestled within each cluster — one of nature's most successful and beautiful deceptions in the plant kingdom.