Winter Texans proud of bougainvillea

MERCEDES - Barbara Hager and her husband Gale planted six bougainvillea only two years go, and those six small bushes have now covered their shed with bright showers of magenta blooms glistening in the sun.

"We have gotten a lot of compliments on them," said Barbara Hager, 71, a Winter Texan from Hastings, Nebraska. She and her husband, Gale, 74, have a winter home at Llano Grande Lake Park Resort and Country Club in Mercedes. The Hagers purchased the lot in February '07; they bought the six bushes from Stuart Place Nursery in Harlingen and planted them before leaving the following May.

When they returned in October 2007, the bougainvillea had grown about halfway up the shed. The really noticeable difference came after they returned this past fall.

"They were even with the top of the shed, and now they are going over the roof," she said. "We put up a lattice that we got at Home Depot and we kind of tied them to that."

However, they still weren't blooming very well, so after Christmas Barbara Hager bought some spray at Borderland Hardware to treat insects and fungus problems, and then the plants "really took off." Soon, deliciously colorful flowers decorated the shed with a cascade of visual delight.

"I use Miracle Gro on them; I fertilize," she said. "We're Nebraska football fans, and so our red bougainvillea, we call it our ‘big red' bush."

Hager has more than bougainvillea growing around the winter home. She also has gardenias, and Mexican heather grows around her palm trees.

"I have a yellow bush, a purple bush, and then some shade plants over on the other side, but I don't know the names of them," she said. "We have a water pipe thing in our front yard, and we planted all kinds of hibiscus around that to hide that. I'm trying to get another bougainvillea started that's kind of pink white. And I am struggling with that right now. I don't think it's getting enough sun. I think it has two blooms on it. We're gonna have to work on that a little bit."

She and her husband have a variety of activities to keep them busy. They attend the First United Methodist Church in Harlingen and they enjoy visiting Mexico.

"Here at Llano you get five years free golf when you buy a lot, and so every day that it's possible we play golf and we have probably the only golf cart like ours in the Valley," she said. "There's a country western place we like to go to and dance."

Hager said she had been in the Valley as a child with her parents. Later, after she and her husband traveled to Florida, Arizona and California, they found they liked every thing about the Valley: the water, the weather (most of the time) and visiting Mexico. That's what keeps them coming back.