In the ‘green’ corner…
BOUGAINVILLEA is a flowering plant native to South America, from Brazil, to Peru, to southern Argentina. It was first collected and identified  in 1768 in the semiarid parts of Brazil by Philibert Commerçon, a French botanist accompanying French Navy admiral and explorer, Louis Antoine de Bougainville during his voyage around the world.
The plant, a climbing shrub with colourful bracts, was named after de Bougainville.
The bougainvillea is thorny plant with woody vines growing anywhere from 1-12 meters tall, scrambling over other plants with their hooked thorns. Its thorns are tipped with a black, waxy substance.
As a woody clambering vine, the bougainvillea will stand alone, and can be pruned into a standard, but it is perfect along fences, on walls, in containers, in hanging baskets, and as a hedge.
Its long arching branches bear heart-shaped leaves and masses of papery bracts in white, pink, orange, purple, and burgundy. Many cultivars, including double-flowered and variegated species, are available.
The actual flower of the plant is small and generally white, but each cluster of three flowers is surrounded by three or six bracts, with the bright colours associated with the plant, including pink, magenta, purple, red, orange, white, or yellow.
The bougainvillea is sometimes referred to as ‘paper flower’, because its bracts are thin and papery. The fruit is a narrow five-lobed achene.
The bougainvillea strives best in dry soil and brilliant sunshine, under which conditions the flowers are most saturated and brilliant.
They are relatively pest-free plants, but may suffer from worms and aphids. The larvae of some Lepidoptera species, the Giant Leopard Moth for example, also use them as food plants.
Locally, the bougainvillea is widely cultivated as a garden ornament, and to decorate arches and gateways.