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Products > Bougainvillea 'Barbara Karst'
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| Category: Vine |
| Family: Nyctaginaceae (Four O¹Clock) |
| Origin: Brazil (South America) |
| Evergreen: Yes |
| Flower Color: Red |
| Bloomtime: Summer/Fall |
| Parentage: (B. 'Crimson Lake' x B. 'Sanderiana') |
| Height: Climbing (Vine) |
| Width: Spreading |
| Exposure: Full Sun |
| Summer Dry: Yes |
| Irrigation (H2O Info): Low Water Needs |
| Winter Hardiness: 20-25° F |
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Bougainvillea 'Barbara Karst' - A moderately-vigorous large evergreen vine with dull dark green broadly-ovate pointed leaves that have a slightly wavy margin. It produces its magenta red bracts all along the entire length of its stems in multiple flushes over a very long season from late spring through fall and often into winter (profusely) in mild years with the small white flowers conspicuous against the bracts. Plant in full sun to bring out the bright color of the bracts, if planted in more shade the color will dull to a reddish-blue. It requires very little irrigation along the coast once established. Hardy to about 20-25 degrees F and noted to be one of the hardiest of the bougainvillea and tolerates desert heat well. This is the best flowering of the large Bougainvillea in Santa Barbara and it is considered to be an interspecific hybrid involving two or more of the species Bougainvillea spectabilis, B. glabra and B. peruviana. It was selected by James E. (Jim) Hendry Jr. at his Everglades Nursery in Fort Myer, Florida in the 1940s and named after his daughter. Reportedly it was Jim Hendry's grandmother, Julia Frierson, who brought the first magenta-colored Bougainvilles glabra 'Sanderiana' vine into Florida from Cuba in 1875. 'Barbara Karst' is thought to be a cross between this plant and the cultivar 'Crimson Lake'. 'Barbara Karst' is similar to the cultivar 'San Diego Red' (AKA 'Scarlet O'Hara'), which has larger leaves and fewer but larger orange-red blooms in clusters. We have grown this cultivar since 1981. The name for the genus honors the French admiral and explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville (1729-1811). Bougainville first visited South American in 1764 on a voyage to settle the Falkland Islands and in 1766 he left on a journey to become the first Frenchman to circumnavigate the globe. On this trip he was accompanied by the botanist Philibert Commerçon, who reportedly named the plant they found 'Bougainvillea' but it was not officially described until 1789 by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu. Jussieu actually misspelled the name as Buginvillea, and this name was not corrected until the 20th century. Further intrigue regarding this plant's discovery is that it may have actually been discovered by Philibert Commerçon's assistant (and possibly his lover) Jeanne Baré, who he had snuck onboard, disguising her as a man.
This information about Bougainvillea 'Barbara Karst' displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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