They grow everywhere: highway dividers, landscaped gardens, household pots, as a climber against the boundary wall…

And alongside railway tracks :) The train ride between Agra and Mathura is a colourful splash because of these. Well, yes, the green fields and shady groves on the way also provide interesting colour, but bougainvilleas absolutely find me rushing to the window to catch that racing patch of fuchsia pink or chrome yellow as the case may be.

It was Louis Antoine de Bougainville, an admiral in the French Navy who discovered the plant in Brazil in 1768, and now we find its many different cultivars all across the globe.

Bougainvilleas are popular ornamental shrubs because they require very little care and produce gorgeous blooms through the year.

You’ll find a sample of bougainvillea in most areas with warm climates: India, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia, Singapore, the Mediterranean region, the Caribbean, Mexico, South Africa, and in the United States - Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, and southern Texas.

~ Anisha Sharma