This Bougainvillea beside the Edgewater Hotel in Winter Garden is about the size of an average three bedroom house.  And stunningly gorgeous in full bloom.  If a bougainvillea is permitted to grow without any interference and if it is placed where it is moderately protected or has something to lean upon (or better yet, both), you can be sure that it will keep on growing and blooming long after whoever planted it is gone.

Here in Florida it is not unusual to be out in the country somewhere and to see a behemoth bougainvillea towering over the ruins of some long-forgotten homestead.  The ceiling may have caved in decades ago, and the walls crumbled to dust.  No matter, the bougainvillea blooms on as the only reminder of a place that was once called home by some happy family.

Some flowering plants do better without too much fussing over them.

Ditto, some people.