Our grandparents were visiting us a few weeks ago and Nana told me she would love to hear about some of the plants here in Grenada. And I thought what better than the national flower?
Bougainvillea grow anywhere from 1-12m (3-40ft) tall. The leaves are 4-13cm long, and 2-6cm broad. They can be a shrub, tree, or vine-we see them them most as bushes. The blossom is actually small and generally white nestled between 3-6 colorful bracts*. The bracts can be pink, magenta, purple, red, orange, white, or yellow. Bougainvillea are drought and salt tolerant so they grow well here and are a very common yard plant. The sap of bougainvillea can cause skin rashes similar to that of poison ivy (or so I’ve heard), but we pick bouquets for the dinner table and no rashes so far. . .
*a modified or specialized leaf that may be smaller, larger, of a different color, shape, or texture than foliage leaves
Single-petal bougainvillea is the most common type. 
Double-petal bougainvillea is slightly
less easy to maintain. This one is not currently flowering.
