Bougainvillea Not Flowering

Q. I have two of these plants at my front door area that are two years old. They only bloomed the first year and this year they are very green but no flowers. How do I get them to flower?  I tried cutting the water for 2-3 weeks but that only made them grow and greener. I would appreciate any help and suggestions you may have. I have attached pictures of them.

A. Flowering requires at least 8 hours of direct sunlight everyday. If they are not getting enough they will be a nice green, grow well but flowering will be greatly reduced or eliminated. Over-application of rich soil amendments or high nitrogen fertilizers can also delay or decrease flowering but make a nice green plant. They might flower the first year because flowering was already started or flower buds were in progress from the nursery.

If you don’t have enough sunlight in that spot you will have to move them to a sunnier location or out further into the light. If this was from high nitrogen fertilizers or soil amendments just let the nitrogen get used up and they should start flowering when that happens. When fertilizing, use a tomato or rose fertilizer and not a lawn type fertilizer. The others have the right balance of nitrogen and phosphorus for flowering.