Question
I have a Mandavilla I bought last year. I took it in for the winter, I put it on my deck this summer and the leaves have come out beautiful will I get flowers back on it soon, so far there are none. Do I need to give it fertilizer , if so what kind? Also does this plant like acid or not?

Answer
Hello Linda

You were right to take your Mandavilla in for the winter and to put it out on the deck for the summer as this plant is not frost hardy.  When you put it outside in the summer find it a spot in good light and make sure that it has some shade from the midday sun.  As this is a climbing plant you could provide some support for it by placing the pot near to some trellis or making an obelisk out of bamboo canes and garden twine.

During the growing season water the plant moderately - don't let it get soggy! and give the it a feed with a good general purpose liquid fertilizer once a month - this will certainly help to stimulate it into producing flowers.  In future springs you should take off the top two inches of compost in the pot and replace with fresh.

During the winter months water the plant very sparingly - about once every 10 days should be OK.

Mandavilla doesn't need an acid planting material - but it does do better in a loam based compost - A John Innis No. 1 if you can get it.