Question
I live in Chicago. One of the big box stores here is selling bougainvillea. I love seeing it when I visit my daughter in LA.
The tag on the plants say it can stand temps down to 20 degrees. They are selling this in the section for outdoor trees and shrubs.
Can it really survive a Chicago winter? They are saying it has to be cut back in fall.
I'd love to buy one but am skeptical.

Answer
Hi Cathy, no, sorry, its sub-tropical and whoever printed that tag was really pushing the envelope, like right off the counter! Bougs will assuredly face demise at 20 degrees; they do not go dormant like many Northern plantings, and a frozen ground will kill them instantly. I have heard of people growing them indoors in containers, but the feedback has been poor, very little color and a stressed, struggling plant was the best they could muster. I am really surprised that they would try to sell them up North, but I guess they figure you could prune it back to a nub and then lift it and attempt to store it indoors until Spring, but what you would get is a dead plant, for again, they don't go dormant. Nick