Bougainvilea 'pink pixie"

May is always a good month for this little guy.

Mine is certainly a bit behind yours

what do you use for fertilizer with these guys?

They sell a special Bougie fertilizer but I use a product similar to Osmocote called Multicote which is 14-16-16 with minors.

I purchase it in 50 lb bags from BWI in Apopka, FL.

I just had to hack mine back again tonight, my girlfriend asking.."are you going after that thing again?" The growth over the winter was all legs, bare spindly branches with growth only at the tips so Ive been niping and waiting for back bud then hard pruning back to those buds as the spring growth has been coming on. The other thing it did was drop every leaf from last year and make all new ones as the days lengthened much like a ficus might do but the tree did not change position.
this was a few weeks ago, I just reduced the top this evening. Tough lookin tree huh?

Just to be clear. Man on the Mountain, your Bougie isn't Pick Pixie; note the differences in flowers and leaf size/shape.

They do grow fast, the variety you have even more than Pink Pixie. I am sure that growing them is much more of a challenge in Rhode Island than in Florida.

Does anybody have a picture of a bigger "pink pixie" that I could get a good look at, to compare for identification of mine.?. I think I have one, not sure. Are they the ones that the leaves kinda stack Vs. the regular bougies are more lateral? (does that make sense lol ) Ill post pic tommorow

Arno

Some characteristics of Pink Pixie.
1. More compact growth, not as viney.
2. I have only seen a pink/red variety - interesting note, at least, in my case, Pink Pixie in the greenhouse has much paler flowers than those outside.
3. Flowers closer to the stem and more within the leaves rather than above the leaves.
4. Leaves smaller, more rounded and with shorter petiole.

Mine is an outside tree except for December-Februay when it is a mostly ignored inside tree that gets very little attention -- including water.

As Billy says, there's very little "vine" about them. I use whatever the cheapest, balanced Miracle-Gro-like fertilizer happens to be when I shop.

I think because they are slower growing that just maybe Pink Pixie wood is harder that regular Bougie. (How is that for hedging?)

Billy,

Billy, You are right on about Multicote. Multicote does wonders for my bougainvillea, hibiscus and many other bonsai trees. My Bougainvillea sp. pixie (not pixie pink) had started to decline in 2009 and I didn't want to lose it. When I repotted the tree I put it in a 5" x 2 1/4" blub pan and started feeding it multicote. I didn't trim it much to let it gain strength, etc. The tree bloomed in May, late July and Nov. I will trim it good and repot it back into a small bonsai pot this winter. Enclosed are pics of it blooming in Nov 2011.

Sorry ...

The pics are from Nov 2010. I am so used to typing 2011 that I automatically typed it. It will take me a month to get used to typing 2012. jejeje

Nice, it is NOT Pink Pixie. Watch out for rot in the wood, Bougie wood rots fast.