With its small size of 25 to 50 cm, its undemanding nature and, in particular, its colorful, bright basket flowers, the Cape daisy awakens longings. As a flower lover, it's hard to avoid planting them on your balcony
How do you care for cape baskets on the balcony?
Cape baskets thrive best on the balcony in full sun, in balcony boxes, hanging baskets or pots with a minimum diameter of 20 cm. They need evenly moist potting soil and regular fertilization from April to August. Remove old flowers to encourage new flowers to form and reduce the risk of fungal attack.
The perfect location and less suitable locations
All of the approximately 70 species of Cape baskets like sunny locations. Therefore, you should offer this perennial a place in full sun on the balcony. South-facing balconies are ideal! Even west and east balconies do not stop the Cape basket from growing and blooming.
A partially shaded location is the tolerance zone. But this plant should not be placed on a north-facing balcony. She urgently needs a lot of warmth and light. She can handle heat easily. But she can't cope with stormy gusts of wind and heavy showers. A sheltered location on the balcony would therefore be preferable.
Balcony boxes, other planters and the substrate
Balcony boxes, hanging baskets and pots are suitable for planting. The most important thing is that they have a minimum diameter of 20 cm and have holes in the bottom from which excess water can drain away. The substrate is easy to choose: a conventional potting soil meets the requirements of this perennial.
How often do these balcony plants need to be watered and fertilized?
Watering and fertilizing are important for long-lasting blooms:
- Keep soil evenly moist
- Let it dry and then water
- fertilization is unnecessary for annual crops
- Use long-term fertilizer (€14.00 on Amazon) or liquid fertilizer for fertilizing
- Give liquid fertilizer every 2 to 4 weeks
- do not over-fertilize, otherwise it will cause flowering problems
- Fertilization period: April to August
Clean out old flowers regularly
Another important part of caring for the Cape baskets is cutting or cleaning them out. The old flowers should be removed regularly. As a result, new flowers can form. This also reduces the risk of fungal infestation.
Wintering useful or unnecessary?
- not hardy
- either overwinter or buy or sow new in spring
- winter brightly
- at 8 to 15 °C
- Keep soil slightly moist
- pruning in spring
- will be out again from May
Tip
Other balcony plants that are good for the neighborhood include strongly scented herbs (keep pests away), pelargoniums, daisies and chrysanthemums.
