Lantana vaulted( nettle-flowering)

Lantana camara

Family. Verbenaceae - Verbenaceae

Homeland - tropical America.

Evergreen frizzy erect shrub in height from 30 to 80 cm, in greenhouses - sometimes up to 3 m, abundantly tsetting with a 4-faceted stalk. Leaves opposite, not large, ovate-oblong, pointed at the tip and wedge-shaped at the base, serrate or serrate along the rim, wrinkled, harsh, saturated green with a strong aroma of mint or lemon.

Small tubular flowers collected in capitate umbrellas located in the sinuses of the leaf. Coloring is different: yellow, pink, red, orange, lilac. The most famous varieties:

• Sundancer - flowers are pure yellow on drooping shoots;

• Miss Huffs features bright yellow-pink flowers, which eventually acquire an orange color;

• White dwarf - a low-growing variety with pure white flowers;

• Greg Grant - flowers from gray-yellow to salmon-pink;

• Samanta impresses with a combination of bright green leaves with white border and lemon-yellow flowers. Lantana blooms abundantly and continuously from May to October.

Courtship. Lanthanum is light-loving enough, it is shaded only from direct sunlight on the southern window, but in autumn and spring it is better to keep it on the southern window. In summer the watering is regular, in winter it is moderate, as the upper layer of the substrate dries up. With insufficient watering and low humidity, the tips of the leaves become brown in color and twist. As a substrate, use a mixture of sod, leaf, humus and sand( 2: 1: 0.5: 0.5) or turf, leaf, humus( 2: 1: 1) with a small amount of sand, bone or blood meal.. Feed every 2 weeks with organic fertilizers. Lantana useful to take out on the balcony or put in the garden, at least to regularly ventilate the room. In winter, the temperature is reduced to 6-8 ° C, in rooms can successfully overwinter at a temperature of 14-1 ° C.In spring, the plant is short cut to 1/2 length. The young plants pinch the tops. It is possible to form a die form.

Lantana is affected by a spider mite, aphid, whitefly, mealybug.

Propagate by apical half-stout cuttings in March. They are rooted in sand at a temperature of 20-22 ° C.Seeds are sown in February-March.

Lantana is used for vertical gardening of bright large rooms. It fits well with pelargonium, fuchsia, heliotrope.