Lantana
 

I know it's early yet, but spring is just around the corner, right?
Last summer I bought some Lantana plants, in some southern parts (not Canada) they are a shrub. I bought them inside the house to overwinter and they seem to be doing quite fine. Question: They are all in the same pot and I want to separate them in the Spring and share. Does anyone know if by pulling the roots apart will end in their demise? I can't find much info. about them regarding overwintering. All advice is appreciated.

My book says to propagate by seeds in spring or semi-ripe cuttings in the summer so my guess would be - don't separate.

Thanks, I've never been that successful at propergating from cuttings, they generally die for me :mad: I will try again this year, if not I'll just keep them for myself and have folks admire them:D

I've just looked up Lantana and they really are quite pretty! Something I may consider planting in the front yard this spring. I did read that the leaves, as well as the unripe green berries, are considered toxic. I thought I'd mention it in case your pets have access to your plants.

Now that you've [I]planted[/I] Spring and gardening in my mind, I have to run to my favorite gardener's website and check out their new catalog :D .

you HAVE to sepparate!

that's how it goes. Otherwise they get too clustered and the roots have no room to breathe. If the roots get ripped off, it's ok. They grow back. The plant can survive as long as you leave some roots on. The goal is to rip off as little as possible, but if oyu'r enot experienced, it'll be ok.

when you overwinter them, you shouldn't water them as much.

If i were you i'd wait to separate until they come back to life because if it's dormant, the plant won't have enough energy to grow and adapt. It'll be very weak. So let them like that and when you're ready to take them outside, separate and feed abd the roots will grow.:thumbs up

oh and they are shrubs. So if you take them inside every winter, chances are that it'll stay a shrub. And when it gets bigger, you need a bigger pot.

Information that is taken from "Guide to Flowering Perennials" -
Ornamental lantanas are very adaptable to most garden climates, and they will withstand light frost and also drought. The plants thrive most vigorously in warm conditions, where they may flower almost all year round. Trim lantanas to shape if desired, otherwise they require almost no maintenance.

Taken from "Canadian Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers"
Genus of evergreen perennials and shrubs, grown for their flowers. Tender perennial. Min 10 - 13 degrees C(50 - 55 F). Needs full light and fertile, wel-drained soil. Water containerized specimens freely when in full growth, moderately at other times. Tip prune young plants to promote a bushy habit. Propagate by seed in spring or by semi-ripe cuttings in summer. Spider mite and whitefly may be troublesome.

I have also included a couple of websites that I find useful when looking for information for my greenhouses.

[url]http://www.backyardgardener.com/plantname/pda_ded2.html[/url]

[url]http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/578/[/url]

[url]http://www.weekendgardener.net/gardening-questions/may-050705.htm[/url]

Hope this helps a little.
The secret of success with semi-ripe cuttings are to take them at the right time of year - summer.
Do you use a rooting hormone or just put the cuttings in water? I usually use a hormone and put my cuttings directly into a very light soil - mix of vermiculite and peat moss. Not a heavy soil as this is usually death to rooting.

14+, will we plant-lovers get to see pics of your greenhouse inhabitants in a new thread :pray: ?

[QUOTE=luckypenny;531949]14+, will we plant-lovers get to see pics of your greenhouse inhabitants in a new thread :pray: ?[/QUOTE]


:D Thanks for asking LP! When it gets closer to selling time I will be posting a few pictures in this section. At the moment the greenhouse inhabitants are just geraniums cuttings and a few stragglers from last year - ivies and stuff. I will be gung ho starting my seeding in the next few weeks as I grow most of what I sell from seed.

14+ Kitties you shold have joined this site in 2006 and I could have dropped off my 300 hostas that I seperated !! :laughing: I would love to be able to start my veggie garden from seeds but I find they never really get going and then they die or they seem to be too fragile once I plant them..like to stems are weak and not strong?? and I hate to say it but it is easier to go buy a box for $1.00 and plant them! Look forward to some plant pics!

Cindy

[QUOTE=14+kitties;531938]Propagate by seed in spring or by semi-ripe cuttings in summer. [/QUOTE]

there's no need for seed or cutting propagation if she's got baby plants. You propagate from cuttings when it's shrub size. Those things grow big, you NEED to separate them or the weaker one will die off anyways

I am sorry, I missed the "in the same pot". In that case you can separate the individual plants gently. I was going by the question "can it be separated to share." All of the research I have done on the plant says this particular plant does not need to be separated which normally means why separate if you can propagate by other means. Pruned; yes, separated, no. The seeds and semi ripe cuttings are just a way of sharing the plant with others.

And Winston, I know! You have mentioned the hostas before. I just can't believe that you couldn't sell them because around here they go like wild fire if they are priced right. How do you start your seeds? Outside or inside? Veg seeds are funny little beggars sometimes and need the right conditions.

Thanks for all the info on the Lantana. Right now I have them in the basement where it is cooler and I did cut them back when I bought them inside, they are sprouting new green leaves and look healthy, I water them about once a week. When I first bought them I didn't have any intention of overwintering them, therefore I planted them all in the same pot, then I found out that they were a shrub, also I saw them in tubs in Newmarket, where they were about 5 feet high and pruned to shape, they looked gorgeous. :lightbulb: gotta have me some of those beauties.
I didn't know they were toxic though, only one of the cats comes out front where I have my pots and he's not a plant nibbler. The berries turn from green to black and look neat.
LP, I can't wait to get my fingers grubby. Will be going to the Toronto Botanical Gardens soon. Once New Year's is over, I convince myself we are on the home stretch.
14+kitties, thanks for the sites. I so envy you with a greenhouse. Winston, Hostas go like hot cakes around here, would have thought in Hamillton too.

Oh Chris.. don't envy me the greehouses in the months of March, April, and May. I am in there up to 16 hours a day transplanting seedlings into bigger pots, checking for aphids,whiteflies, etc.., keeping temp where it should be to maintain growth but not by too much.... and the list goes on. Don't get me wrong, I love it. Just get me past those months........ :D
Most of the time it is very relaxing. Rainy days are my favourite when the rain is hitting the greenhouses and I am in there listening to it and nice and cosy. So nice. :cloud9:

Believe me I envy you. Every Xmas I get "what do you want for Xmas" me "Greenhouse" them "No, what do you really want" me "I could do with a new Frying Pan. Guess what I got, you're right, the Frying Pan.:mad:

I hope you took that frying pan and used it on the appropriate place on their bodies?? [img]http://bestsmileys.com/hitting/13.gif[/img] (replace rolling pin with pan) :D
The small ones you put up yourself are actually getting to be not badly priced. It's too bad you can't convince your family. Keep working at it. They have to give in sometime.

[QUOTE=Winston;532057]14+ Kitties you shold have joined this site in 2006 and I could have dropped off my 300 hostas that I seperated !! :laughing: I would love to be able to start my veggie garden from seeds but I find they never really get going and then they die or they seem to be too fragile once I plant them..like to stems are weak and not strong?? and I hate to say it but it is easier to go buy a box for $1.00 and plant them! Look forward to some plant pics!

Cindy[/QUOTE]

300 Hostas? WOW! lol I have 3 and they can't grow fast enough for me. I love all the different colors.

What kinda veggies do you want to grow? Stuff like tomatoes/basil/peppers should be started indoors, but others like peas/beans/onion sets can just be planted where they will grow. And some plants like tomatoes benefit from being planted in their final growing area deeper which makes them produce more root.

I hate Lantana! It's everywhere here. It is so invasive and poisonous. If you are playing with this in the garden make sure you wash your hands before you touch yourself anywhere because you can break out. Also, make sure your hands are clean before you touch your pets because of their "wondering" kisses. It's pretty, but once you have it, make sure it's something you want. We've been trying to kill it here at the house for over two years and have been unsuccessful. It keeps coming back! We've tried pulling the roots (or so we thought) and it came back. We nuked it. It came back. We cut it down to expose the middle of the branches and nuked it. It came back. If you plant this anywhere near other plants, be very careful because it overtake whatever plant is near it. When we first moved in here it was grown thoughout an entire lemon tree and slowly killing it. Ugh! Lantana! Make it go away! :frustrated:

[QUOTE=jesse's mommy;540039]I hate Lantana! It's everywhere here. It is so invasive and poisonous. If you are playing with this in the garden make sure you wash your hands before you touch yourself anywhere because you can break out. Also, make sure your hands are clean before you touch your pets because of their "wondering" kisses. It's pretty, but once you have it, make sure it's something you want. We've been trying to kill it here at the house for over two years and have been unsuccessful. It keeps coming back! We've tried pulling the roots (or so we thought) and it came back. We nuked it. It came back. We cut it down to expose the middle of the branches and nuked it. It came back. If you plant this anywhere near other plants, be very careful because it overtake whatever plant is near it. When we first moved in here it was grown thoughout an entire lemon tree and slowly killing it. Ugh! Lantana! Make it go away! :frustrated:[/QUOTE]

jesse's mommy - not to worry. It supposedly is a tender perennial (min. 50 - 55F) so would never survive our winters if planted outside.

But it's like a horror movie, it always comes back! :yell:

Yes, I agree it probably does in Florida. Unfortunately our winters are not like yours. Right at the moment we are at -5C (23F) and expected to go to -12 (10.4F). With the wind chills it gets worse. A lot of the plants considered perennial down there are annuals up here. They just don't survive the frigid winters.

[QUOTE=jesse's mommy;540075]But it's like a horror movie, it always comes back! :yell:[/QUOTE]

Not in Ontario and probably all of Canada. Remember we live in the Great White North :frustrated:

Starve any unwanted plants from the two things they need most - light and water.

Black plastic (although ugly in appearance) laid out over the area nice and tight for a hot summer's duration will bake anything underneath. Also thick layers of mulch might work.

I imagine that one of these days the snow will go. My Lantana in the basement is still trucking, I had hoped by now that we would have had a day here or there that I could put it outside for a couple of hours. Alas that has not been the case.:yell:

Question: Should I start to fertilize it?
" " When should I separate it, as there are three plants in one pot?

Plant thread? Hmm, I know these aren't outside plants, but I must admit I'm a bit proud of them all ...

I've always been known to "kill" any plant that came inside my house. Not on purpose, never, but they just didn't want to live with me, preferred suicide to being with me :cry:

So now, with these guys ... hope you don't mind my sharing, or if you do just skip past the pics.

First out, a photo of my three floating shelves where I placed my European birdies and the plants.

Second, is the Christmas Cactus, which is in fact a piece of the one my great-grandmother had (by way of my grand-mother's and my mom's but the mother plant was from 1800 and something!). I planted it 18 months ago, just a tiny thing of a few leaves, and now look at it! 23 new leaf-shoots, and a flower!

Then there's last Christmas' pointsetta .. .. this one I don't "get" at all! I mean, when I buy these in mid-December, they are always dead by New Year's Eve. This one? Making me new leaves all over!

Then there's a tiny thing I took from my in-laws' country house and stuck in water for a few weeks. I forget the name :D but it's also making a huge number of new leaves.

The hanging ivy I bought while we were renting, and if it didn't die in that dark place, it's certainly in light-heaven here. I cut it back already, the peices are on the top shelf with a spider plant I started from a piece I got from my hair dresser!

And this big guy? It was left with the house, too big and fragile to move! I had to cut off a piece from the top (which is in the next pic).

Last pics (promise, I'm out of plants by now :D )

First the top part of the big-guy that I started rooting in a glass of water, along-side a yucca (I think) we got at Maxi up the road.

Then there are my two bamboos, one smaller that I bought in the vase it's in, and the bigger one I put in the super-tall vase myself, after getting the stones from Dollarama (hey, why pay more?)

great pics and commentary. OK I am ready to get out and plant. Love that there are fellow gardners at this site. Your heart bamboo is very nice and your Christmas cactus has such a wonderful history attached to it.I really enjoyed your pictures. Can't wait to see what grows in your greenhouse.

[QUOTE=Chris21711;568530]I imagine that one of these days the snow will go. My Lantana in the basement is still trucking, I had hoped by now that we would have had a day here or there that I could put it outside for a couple of hours. Alas that has not been the case.:yell:

Question: Should I start to fertilize it?
" " When should I separate it, as there are three plants in one pot?[/QUOTE]

Just bumping your question, Chris, since I think it'll be easy to miss up there.... :o [SIZE="1"]Sorry I don't know anything about Lantana! [/SIZE]

Chris - Are you planning on putting them in pots for the summer or planting them in the garden? If it is in pots go ahead and separate the plants now. That way by the time it goes outside it will be looking great. If not and you are planning on keeping them for yourself for your garden then you can wait until you plant it outside. Once separated and settled in new homes just give a weak solution of fertilizer until it is established.
Remember you don't need to cut back the roots but if you want to shape the top of it you can. I have some going in the greenhouse - still seedlings but growing. :)
How much light does your basement get? You could move the Lantana to a spot with a little more light for a while before you start hardening it off outside.