Benign neglect

To my bored, imaginary readers:

Bougainvillea are supposed to be cared for with 'benign neglect'. I haven't found that to be the case.  The magenta on the east wall-- i'm not really sure how many hours of sun now that the sun is almost overhead. The portico may have started to block much needed mid-day sun.  It looks like a mangy old possum. Hardly any foliage, though the branches do look somewhat covered when in bloom.

I just read on wiki that a bougainvillea thrives on a somewhat dry, fertile soil. Little water needed once established. Something is missing on my terrace.

Need to get a used book on them on Amazon. There may be some tricks to growing in containers that i'm missing.

I started writing about benign neglect because i have an orchid that someone gave me from IKEA, just a common, pretty orchid that has been holding it's blooms for over a month. Tucked away by the duranta and blue daze, almost forgotten, it is a beautiful addition to the mass of flowers.

Made a mix of potting soil -- 2 litre perlite, 2 litre Miracle Gro Moisture  control, 1 litre Jiffy Mix. I took a piece of a rhizome of Selph and planted in 6" point. I wet the material, which drained fine after clearing the whole in the bottom. Rubbing my finger in it right after watering, it did not seemed to holed a lot of water. Good.