The homeland of the triplet flower is South America. The temperatures there are predominantly warm. Triplet flowers are therefore not hardy and must be overwintered frost-free. What you need to consider when wintering.
How do I properly overwinter a triplet flower?
In order to overwinter the triplet flower successfully, it should be placed in a cool, frost-free and bright place, such as a winter garden or basement. The temperature should be between 3 and 12 degrees. Water moderately and only fertilize in warmer locations.
A good place to overwinter the triplet flower
You need enough space to overwinter. If the plant is very large and wide overall, you can cut it before putting it into winter quarters.
All places where the triplet flower is cool, frost-free and as bright as possible are suitable:
- Winter Garden
- Staircase
- Hallway window
- bright basement
- Greenhouse
The temperatures should be between three and twelve degrees. Slowly acclimate the triplet flower to the cooler environment. Cooling forces the plant to slow down its metabolism. It then gets by with less light.
Be careful when watering and fertilizing
Water the triplet flower moderately during overwintering. The drier it is kept during the winter, the greater the abundance of flowers next year. The root ball should just be moist. Waterlogging is the biggest problem when overwintering. Watering is only carried out when the surface of the substrate has dried out. You must pour off excess water immediately.
If the bougainvillea is kept cool, it will not receive any fertilizer in winter. If you need to overwinter it in a warmer place, give it some liquid fertilizer once a month.
Due to the lack of light, the triplet flower loses most of its leaves in a cool location. But that's no reason to worry.
Tip
You can also overwinter a triplet indoors in warm temperatures if you have no other option. The bougainvillea then retains all of its leaves. However, there is a risk that it will only bloom a little or not at all afterwards.