Lanthanum

 

Verbenaceae family. Homeland tropical areas of America and Africa. About 150 species are common in the culture.

  • The prickly Lantana camara is an evergreen shrub about 1-1.5 m tall with erect stems. The leaves are oppositely arranged, ovate, pointed at the end, with a serrate edge and fine pubescence along the veins. Numerous flowers are collected in corymbose inflorescences on a long peduncle. The flowers are small, whitish, yellow, red, orange, purple, etc.
  • Lantana spiky varieties: 'Goldensonne' and 'Aloha' - form golden inflorescences, 'Cocktail' and 'Sunkiss' with brick red and orange flowers, 'Naida' and 'Schneewittchen' - white flowers with a yellow eye, 'White Dwarf' - snow-white flowers, 'Samanta' - with lemon yellow
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Lantana care

In general, lanthanum is very undemanding, in natural conditions, in countries with a warm climate it grows without problems on nutritious loamy soil, like our nettles. But when growing lanthanum at home, there may be problems with lack of light and space. The plant requires space, cool wintering and watering depending on the growth rate.

Temperature: moderate, in winter within 14-16 ° C, but not lower than 12 ° C.

Lighting: Lanthanum is light-loving, prefers bright diffused light, with protection from direct sunlight in the hot season, i.e. at noon.

Watering: plentiful in spring and summer, so that the top layer of the earth has time to dry out for the next watering. Intensively growing plants are watered more abundantly. In mid-summer or when the temperature drops, when the pots are on the balcony, growth slows down, water a little less often. In winter, watering is very moderate, with good drying of the ground, the colder the temperature of the content, the more rare watering.

Top dressing: from May to August, lanthanum is fed every 2 weeks with complex fertilizer for ornamental flowering plants, for example, Fertica Lux.

Air humidity: although lanthanum is quite resistant to dry air, it can sometimes be sprayed for hygienic purposes.

Transplant: annually in the spring - in March. Into spacious pots, with good drain holes. Drainage to the bottom of the pot is about 2 cm. Soil: 2 parts of light turf, 1 part of sheet earth, 1 part of humus, and 1 part of sand. You can add a few pieces of birch charcoal.

Reproduction: semi-lignified cuttings, which are cut in August from the shoots of the current year. Cuttings should be about 10 cm long, a couple of lower leaves are cut off, for rooting they are placed in pots with moist peat under a jar, which is periodically raised for ventilation. It is not difficult to grow lanthanum from seeds: sowing in March, germination at a temperature of 20-22 ° C. Seedlings appear in 10-14 days. When 3-4 real leaves are formed, they dive into separate cups. Further, two options: illuminate so that the seedlings do not stretch or rearrange to a cooler place, where 14-15 ° C. The second transplant in May, you can take the plants to the garden or determine a permanent place on the window.

By the way

Lantana is an ancient name for viburnum.

Lanthanum prickly is the only species (and its more compact hybrids) to be grown as a houseplant or greenhouse plant.

This shrub requires periodic crown formation. In spring, lanthanum is pruned and sprung to enhance bushiness. Over time, lanthanum turns into a tree-like shrub.

Sometimes it is grown as a potensai (bonsai formation).

Growing problems

There are no particular problems growing lanthanum if your home is not hot in winter. It is perfect for landscaping a country house - where there is a cool corner by a bright window (with careful watering).

It is not difficult to provide a fairly bright place - an unshaded east window is good. On the south or west window (or in the garden) from 11 to 15 o'clock in the afternoon, do a light shade.

Lanthanum is quite resistant to dry air, but periodic spraying will not hurt. In addition, the plant can be affected by a spider mite and scale, which develop rapidly in heat and dryness.

You need to fight pests with the help of special drugs: from ticks - this is a group of acaricides (sanmite, apollo, vermitek, actellic or phytoverm). Actara or confidor are effective against mealybug, shield or whiteflies.

When spraying with ordinary water, you should avoid wetting the inflorescences, but when processing from pests, you need to cut off the inflorescences and spray the bush whole, wetting both sides of the leaf.

With increased humidity or waterlogging, lanthanum can be affected by fungal diseases (various spots), so you should periodically loosen the earth in the pot, and use phytosporin for irrigation.