If you love colorful things on the balcony, then the lantana is an excellent choice. The attractive flowers impress with their unusual play of colors. They not only bloom in a single tone but also change their color depending on the species, for example from bright yellow to orange to strong red.
How do you care for a lantana on the balcony?
The lantana is ideal for the balcony: It prefers a warm, protected location in full sun or partial shade, requires loose, nutrient-rich soil, regular watering without waterlogging and regular fertilization. Remove dead shoots to ensure abundant flowering.
The optimal location
The home of this pretty small shrub is the temperate zones of South America. Accordingly, you should give the lantana a warm and protected place on the balcony. Full sun is ideal, but the plant also thrives in a partially shaded spot. In the shade, however, the plant takes care of itself and produces significantly fewer flowers.
Substrate choice
The optimal potting soil is loose and nutrient-rich. For example, flowering plant soil or potted plant soil is well suited. Alternatively, you can mix topsoil with mature compost and add coconut fiber, sand or cactus soil to loosen it up.
Since the lantana reacts very sensitively to waterlogging, it is recommended to place clay shards (€8.00 on Amazon) over the drainage holes of the planter and fill in a drainage layer of expanded clay on top.
Watering and fertilizing
The root ball of the lantana should never dry out completely. Water whenever the top few inches of soil feel dry. At the same time, waterlogging must be avoided. Therefore, pour away any excess water that collects in the coaster after 15 minutes at the latest.
fertilization is carried out every four weeks until flowering begins. After that, you should feed the plant with a liquid fertilizer for flowering plants every two weeks. The last fertilizer application takes place at the end of August.
Cutting the Lantana
For abundant flowering, it is important to regularly dispose of everything that has bloomed. Sparsely growing shoots are also shortened at this opportunity so that the lantana retains its original shape as a small bush or standard stem.
Depending on whether you overwinter the plant in the living room, a cold room or a dim basement, it will be cut back in autumn. As a result, it slides into winter dormancy and sprouts even more vigorously next spring.
Pests and diseases
As robust as the lantana is, it can occasionally happen that harmful insects such as spider mites, whiteflies or aphids attack the plant. Check the plant regularly, because the sooner you discover the small animals, the easier it is to combat them.
Tip
Since Lantana is a poisonous plant, it should only be cultivated where it is ensured that no children or pets accidentally eat the plant. Be sure to wear gloves when cutting, as even contact with the cuttings can cause skin irritation.
