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Abutilon Vitifolium
Abutilon
Abutilon plants are easy to care for. They will grow without pruning, if you have a lot of space to fill. However to make sure you have a bushy plant in the summer, cut them back to about half in the spring, just before growth restarts. During summer, you will extend the plants display if you remove any dead flower heads regularly. Plants will need feeding with a general fertiliser once each month during summer. Take care not to over water in winter, when very little moisture is needed.
As well as being grown as a year-round conservatory or greenhouse plant, abutilons are useful to add height and drama to outdoor summer bedding displays. They should be planted in a sunny spot that is sheltered from strong winds. Only plant them out when all danger of frost has passed, and be careful to bring them indoor in autumn before the cold weather arrives.
It needs a well drained compost, water well during summer and carefully during winter.
In spring, prune previous year’s growth back by roughly half to encourage bushy growth in summer.
Can suffer from pets such as whitefly; greenfly scale insect, meal bugs and red spider mite, on first sight spray with an insecticide widely available from any garden centre.