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| I purchased a Lantana hanging basket from a local nursery. It bloomed beautifully for a few weeks, now there are no flowers at all, just a bunch of berry clusters. Do I prune them off to get more bloom? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by donnabaskets 7b-8 MS (My Page) on Thu, Jun 13, 13 at 17:55
| You can, but as your weather gets hotter and the plant gets to growing it will get to blooming too. The ones that are blooming in the nurseries in early spring have had some kind of chemical help to bloom. Once that wears off, they stop, but only for a little while. |
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- Posted by lindaw-cincy 6 (My Page) on Thu, Jun 13, 13 at 20:10
| Thanks Donna. That is good to know, cause it looks pretty plain right now. We have had cooler weather, so maybe when it warms up, I will get blooms. |
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- Posted by wally-1936 8b (My Page) on Sat, Jun 15, 13 at 17:53
| So are you going to try to plant those berries-seeds |
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| In zone 6 would she get any sizable plants before freezing temps set in? Or can they be kept over winter indoors? I just bought some lantana half off at a roadside stand. I'm hoping they'll attract hummingbirds and butterflies. I have a light setup in the basement, so I could save some cuttings if they do well this season. Martha |
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- Posted by susanzone5 z5NY (My Page) on Mon, Jun 17, 13 at 12:30
| Pluck off the berries and feed with Miracle Grow for Blooms. They will bloom their heads off. |
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- Posted by lindaw-cincy 6 (My Page) on Tue, Jun 18, 13 at 16:58
| Thanks Susan. I do have miracle grow for blooms, so I will give it a try. |
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| The plants I grow are in the ground and get quite large - much too big for a hanging basket. I do very little to them except cover with black plastic in the winter and they invariably come back. They look rough when I trim them in the fall (just woody stumps) but do leaf out when it gets warm. It would be very interesting to see if you could keep them going through the winter inside your home. And indeed - they attract many butterflies and hummingbirds and are deer resistant. Also very drought and heat resistant. My very favorite plant for zone 7b, Upstate South Carolina. Here is last summer: |
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| I really enjoy growing lantana....it thrives in containers on my west facing front porch. But, in my experience over the years, it tends to go through a real slump after blooming heavily. Some varieties more so than others. For example, last summer, my New Gold cultivar would have been bare half the summer if I didn't keep cutting it back....and New Gold is one of the sterile varieties! My routine with Lantana is to fertilize frequently with a weak solution of a soluble product....and I do not go heavy on the Phosphorus. I also examine periodically for spider mites and lantana lacebug. Moths and butterflies go crazy for these plants, don't they?
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| It always amuses to hear what people grow in other states. Lantana is very common here in Arizona and many people dislike it for that reason. They try to grow petunias, dianthus, and other things that burn up in the sun. I'm not a fan of lantana. I hate the smell and the texture. I only tolerate the one that grows in my garden because it wraps itself around an old cactus. |
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| I can't disagree too much. A few years ago I bought a tiny one at kmart of all places because kiddo saw it and loved it. She said it smelled like candy!? I didn't even know what it was, but I put it in the ground and it grew like a weed and got so much bigger than I.ever anticipated. I think that's my problem with it. The flowers are pretty enough, but the rest of it actually looks weedy. But alas, it's now a tradition every year to have one somewhere. I shouldn't pull it out and let it overwinter in the ground so I don't have to spend the $2.50 for a new plant each year, but by the end of the season I'm so tired of looking at it that there is a bit of satisfaction in yanking it out. The pink and yellow flowers on this year's version are pretty, though. I think it's called pink lemonade but I can't remember. Maybe I'll let this one live past this summer. |
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| I am responsible for the landscaping of a local museum, and have used Lantana to provide late summer through fall color. If I cut it back and dig it out and pot it up, before an early frost gets it, I can keep it over the winter protected from frost. When it warms in the spring I can put it in the sun to get it started for another years bloom. I have tried it for a third year, but lose about half of them, so not worth it. Al |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Tue, Jun 25, 13 at 12:48
| Butterflies DO go nuts for these plants, and we often see hummingbirds visiting them as well. The fact that it's in a hanging basket could be an issue if the drain hole is not at the bottom surface of the pot. Is the pot the type with a recessed hole that allows about 1/2 inch of standing water in the bottom? Any time a basket is hanging, it has to be hanging from something, that likely casts a shadow... so I wonder if it's getting enough sun? There are so many Lanatanas that are so different, at least in flower color and size, but in a nutshell, I think it would be safe to say that none of them would appreciate poor drainage/standing water and all need tons of sun. Deadheading a hanging Lantana would be something I'd enjoy, but even if you don't, and miss many of them when you do some, any time you can remove the balls, hopefully the plant will get the urge to make more. The monsters in the yard do not get any of this from me and they keep blooming though, so probably much less helpful than other plants notorious for requiring it for continued/prolonged blooms, but I don't have much experience with the other kinds except to kill them with too much water and shade when I lived in OH. The ones in the yard here usually die back to the ground every winter, then end up 6-7 feet tall, bloom from mid-summer until frost. Full sun all day. This past winter many branches remained alive well above ground level and area already pushing the 7-foot level. No care has been given the past 6 years except to cut dead branches sometimes in the spring, sometimes not at all. In a container, fertilizer may be required for satisfactory blooming as is common for many blooming plants. I'd go with the multiple advice on that too. Linda, at any time, you're welcome to add a picture of your plant to the discussion, one picture per entry if you have more than one. |
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