From our perspective, our roots are everything. To support the lush growth you desire, we need a light, fluffy, and well-draining home. A dense, soggy soil will suffocate our roots and lead to rot. Please use a high-quality potting mix, ideally one that includes peat moss, perlite, and vermiculite. This gives us the perfect balance of moisture retention and drainage. Furthermore, we are heavy feeders. Mixing a slow-release fertilizer granules into our soil at planting provides a steady supply of essential nutrients—like nitrogen for green growth and phosphorus for strong roots and abundant blooms—right from the start. This foundational care is the first critical step to a thriving basket.
To produce the energy required for our spectacular floral display, we need ample sunlight. We are sun-worshippers at our core. For the most prolific blooming, please place our hanging basket in a location where we can receive at least six to eight hours of direct sunlight daily. While we can tolerate a little light shade, insufficient sun will result in leggy, weak growth with significantly fewer flowers. We will stretch our stems desperately towards the light, becoming sparse and unable to support the lush, full appearance you want. The sun is our primary source of fuel; give us plenty, and we will reward you with a vibrant and continuous performance.
Our hanging basket home exposes us to wind and sun from all sides, causing our soil to dry out much faster than plants in the ground. Consistent moisture is key to our success. You must check our soil daily, even twice daily during hot, windy weather. The goal is to keep the soil evenly moist but never waterlogged. When you water, do so thoroughly until water runs freely from the drainage holes. This ensures our entire root system receives a drink. Allowing us to wilt severely from drought is incredibly stressful and will stunt our growth, cause bud drop, and make us susceptible to pests and diseases.
Producing thousands of flowers over a single season is an exhausting endeavor that depletes the nutrients in our limited soil volume. The initial slow-release fertilizer is a great start, but it is not enough for the entire season. To maintain our energy and continue blooming profusely, we require regular supplemental feeding. Please provide us with a water-soluble fertilizer, high in phosphorus (the middle number on the fertilizer package), every one to two weeks. This regular "meal" replenishes the soil and gives us the direct boost we need to keep channeling our energy into creating new buds and flowers instead of just surviving.
Our biological purpose is to flower, set seed, and complete our life cycle. You can trick us into prolonging our flowering period by regularly removing spent blooms. This process, called deadheading, prevents us from diverting energy into seed production. Simply pinch or snip the faded flower and its small seed pod stem back to the main branch. This neat and simple task signals to the plant to immediately produce more flower buds in an effort to achieve its reproductive goal. Consistent deadheading keeps us looking tidy and encourages a relentless wave of new color throughout the season.
