LEMON CORAL® in HANGING BASKETS
Lemon Coral is a sun loving annual that prefers slightly drier soil than some other annuals. Since the soil in hanging baskets tends to dry out faster than soil in upright containers, that works in its favor. Make sure to choose companions that share those same preferences so all of the plants in your hanging basket will flourish.
You’ll find that Lemon Coral tends to form a thick carpet of brilliant, succulent foliage. When you first plant it, the foliage will be more mounded in shape, but as summer progresses it will trail over the edges of the hanging basket.
Click the images above to learn more about each recipe.
PLANTING YOUR HANGING BASKET
- Follow the recipes shown above to plant your 12” hanging basket of Lemon Coral and its sun loving companions. Alternatively, you could plant an entire basket of Lemon Coral.
- Space the plants equally in a triangular pattern in the basket so it fills out on all sides.
- Use a good quality potting soil in your hanging basket. Better potting soils are light in texture and weight, and water drains easily through them.
- Mix a bit of slow release plant food into the potting soil before you add the plants. Follow the package instructions to know how much to use. This will ensure a small amount of food is available to the plants’ roots over the season.
- Water your newly planted hanging basket immediately to help the soil settle in around the plants’ roots.
- Hang it up in a sunny spot from a sturdy hook, pole or post. Remember, your hanging basket will get heavier as the plants grow larger through the season.
CARING FOR YOUR HANGING BASKET
Plentiful sunlight along with moderate water and plant food are all your hanging basket will need to thrive all season long. Lemon Coral is a garden workhorse that aims to please.
SUNLIGHT
- Like most sedums, Lemon Coral grows best in full sun where its color will be brighter yellow and its shape will be more dense. If full sun isn’t an option, it will also grow in part sun, which means at least 4-6 hours of direct sun per day.
- Even though its color is light, this durable succulent will not burn in full sun, even in warm climates.
WATER
- Plants growing in hanging baskets tend to dry out much faster than those planted in heavier upright containers and in the ground. This is especially true when they are hanging in windy areas or in full sun all day.
- Lemon Coral prefers for its soil to dry a bit between each time you water it. To figure out if it is time to water, stick your finger down in the soil up to your first knuckle. If the soil sticks to your finger, it is moist enough and doesn’t need more water. If the soil feels dry and the plant looks a bit limp, it’s time to water.
- If you don’t have much time to water or if you tend to travel in the summertime, consider investing in a WaterWise® self-watering kit. It saves time and water, is simple to use, and waters up to ten containers at once from a single faucet.
PLANT FOOD
- We recommend feeding Proven Winners annuals with water soluble plant food every third time you water. Follow the package directions for rates.
- If you are growing Lemon Coral in more shade, we’ve found that it helps to decrease the strength of the plant food by half to avoid leggy growth.
- During the heat of summer when you are watering more often, your plants are growing faster and need more food to keep up. Feeding flowers is like feeding kids–not so much when they are toddlers but they’ll eat you out of house and home when they are teenagers.
- Any brand of plant food meant for flowers will work for your hanging baskets. But we recommend Proven Winners water soluble and continuous release plant foods because they are specially formulated with micronutrients to help our varieties grow bigger, stronger, and bear more flowers.
TRIMMING
- When we said Lemon Coral was low maintenance and worry-free, we weren’t kidding! Lemon Coral has just the right amount of vigor. It will grow well to form a rich carpet of succulent foliage, but it won’t outgrow its container or be a bully to other plants you pair it with. Little to no trimming is required with this role model of a plant.
- If, for some reason, you’d like to give your Lemon Coral a haircut, go right ahead. Just pinch or snip the stems back to the length you prefer. As long as you don’t remove more than 1/3 of the plant at any one time, you can’t hurt it by trimming.