{"id":4374,"date":"2013-03-03T12:00:10","date_gmt":"2013-03-03T17:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=4374"},"modified":"2015-08-06T19:30:46","modified_gmt":"2015-08-06T23:30:46","slug":"pentas-are-new-flower-favorite-in-summer-gardens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2013\/03\/03\/pentas-are-new-flower-favorite-in-summer-gardens\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorful Pentas Bloom In Summer’s Heat And Humidity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Egyptian Star Flower (Pentas lanceolata) Cope with Summer’s Heat and Humidity<\/p><\/div>\n

Pentas, aka Egyptian starflower, (Pentas lanceolata<\/em>) excel in the summer flower garden. Only a few years ago, pentas were only found decorating window boxes and other containers. Today, they have becoming a popular bedding plant in geographic areas where summer temps get hot.<\/p>\n

Pentas grow best in full to part sun (6-hours minimum), and preferably, in a compost-rich, well-drained garden soil with regular watering. Soil pH may range from moderately acidic to slightly alkaline(pH 5.8 to 7.5). Established plants become moderately drought tolerant by mid-summer. Adding a 2-3 inch layer of organic mulch is also beneficial to retain soil moisture.<\/p>\n

The 3- 3 1\/2 inch long leaves are dark lustrous green. Disease and pest issues are few if plants are properly spaced and irrigated when needed. Spring-planted pentas bloom non-stop to the first autumn hard frost. The flat-topped 3-5 inch wide flowers (corymbs) are clusters of brightly colored star-like blooms– available in red, pink, lavender purple, and white. The non-fragrant flowers attract huge numbers of butterflies to the summer garden.<\/p>\n

At spring planting time, broadcast a slow release fertilizer over the flower bed. Supplement with a water-soluble product such as Miracle-Gro\u2122, Jacks\u2122, or Schultz\u2122 according to package directions biweekly from mid-July to early September.<\/p>\n

There are numerous pentas varieties including Graffiti, Kaleidoscope, New Look, Butterfly, Pinata and Starcluster series. Plant heights (2 to 4 feet range) will vary from one series to another.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pentas, aka Egyptian starflower, (Pentas lanceolata) excel in the summer flower garden. Only a few years ago, pentas were only found decorating window boxes and other containers. Today, they have becoming a popular bedding plant in geographic areas where summer temps get hot. Pentas grow best in full to part sun (6-hours minimum), and preferably, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,398,749,674,806,665,774,983,630,706,646,113],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4374"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4374"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7897,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4374\/revisions\/7897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}