OH I love bougainvilleas and love your photos of the ones you have. BUT I can't stand the thorns.

Thanks for the heads up that there are some which are throneless! I had no idea they existed!

Guess what I'm going to be looking for this spring!

This is so funny.......................just in from buying two of the ones with thorns. The one that is in the plant room is too big to move anymore, so I am going to do what you do, keep them in smaller containers. After all, it certainly has worked WELL for you, yours are always so beautiful.

I am certain you posted this just for me! All but 2 are coming back in a burst of color. I had no idea what the name of the one smaller plant with large distinctive lilac bracts. Now I know it is Silhouette! I'll wait a while longer but I have more to go on than what I told my local nurseryman yesterday. Thank you Roselee! This photo from last August shows Silhouette in the foreground.

Silhouette

My Silhouette still looks lifeless, but I was able to buy one right off the truck at my local nursery Friday. It does indeed appear thornless, but I know I never noticed that last year. C

Cynthia, your Silhouette bougie is a beauty. Is the bark green at all?

A couple of mine that were in the back of my overwintering house, which is only heated by a small electric heater, haven't leafed out yet. One has a few truly dead branches, the other, a dark purple, has branches that are green when scratched, but no leaves yet, but I'm confident it will be okay. It was slow last year too.

Speaking of slow to leaf!!! -- I moved a large Wooly bee brush winter before last and it stayed bare of leaves ALL last summer and through the winter! But the bark showed green when scratched. This spring it finally has leaves.

Roselee
I have not given up on the old Silhouette. I always wait until roots no longer hold before I give up.... I thought there was some pale green then I have thought not. That only means that I surround it with others to inspire any life. And when I saw one come off the truck I couldn't resist!
BTW bully for your Wooly Bee bush I need to search to see what that is.
c

Crystal, wishing you the best with your first bougie. For me growing them is very gratifying.

Incidentally, Silhouette and the bi color Miss Alice (?) which also has variegated foliage, have both formed small thorns, but they are few and far between, and not a problem.