Bougainvillea On A Steep Hillside
Gardening Question From Lynne:
Can I plant bougainvillea on a steep hillside and use it for ground cover rather than having it climb a wall or fence? We have a steep embankment by our driveway and I’d like to plant some and just have it cover the embankment rather than regular ground cover. But from what I’ve read, it seems bougainvillea needs to be against a wall or trained on a trellis or something similar. Is there any want to plant it and have the steepness of the embankment be used as the “wall” that is needed? How could we train it to climb on the embankment? Thank you!
Answer From Pat:
By all means yes. Bougainvillea makes an excellent large ground cover for banks. No it does not need to be grown on a wall or trained on a trellis. It’s fine lying on the ground. You can use several colors or just one. if you wish you can plant gazanias between the bougainvilleas to fill the spaces between the bougainvilleas until they take over.
Best kinds of bougainvillea to use on banks are shrub types, such as ‘La Jolla’. I have used this as a bank cover for many years in my garden. Eventually, however, after 60 years it grew a trunk and was too tall and large for the space. Last fall I renewed it by cutting it to the ground. Now it is a sprawling shrub again lying on the ground and it has just begun to bloom now on the first of May.
Refer to the lists of varieties in Sunset Western Garden Book in order to choose the best varieties for this use.
There is an excellent photo of bougainvilleas used as ground covers in a marvelous old book I have in my library called “Color for the Landscape” by Mildred Matthias. You can find it online on Amazon.com and I hope it still contains that photo. If not, no worries since that book is a jewel with loads of good information.
Photo by mockstar 
Our home sits at the bottom of a steep (2:1)slope of DG that creates an amphitheater effect across our driveway, as viewed from our front door.
The red Apple ground cover has died on the slope and it is bare now. I had intended to have bougainvillea planted in an undulating line around the top of the slope, with plumbago, comprosa, viburnum and birds of paradise lower on the slope, and myoporum (tiny pink) to fill in as ground cover. My question is: will the bract drop from the bougainvillea (30+) cause a litter maintenance problem? Thank you.
I have seen bougainvillea used as a bank cover and never noticed bract drop to be a problem. The bracts seem to fall off through the recumbent branches and fall on the ground as mulch.
I live in La Jolla. My bougainvilleas have been growing beautifully for years and all of a sudden the flowers have been dying back and now the branches look like they are also dying. There is very little new growth. They were sprayed with sulphur about six weeks ago. Could the sulphur cause this problem?
I do not recommend spraying plants with any kind of chemical. Sulfur can burn plants. If you need to control pests, release beneficials.