Osmocote is a general purpose plant food and I use it on vegetables, flowers, roses and mix it into the soil of my container gardens and window box soil at planting time. There are some plants like sedums, herbs and lavender that do not like a lot of fertilizer as it makes them grow too fast and tall. For these plants that prefer a lean soil I will use just a small amount of Osmocote such as one fourth the recommended amount. Keep growing, Marianne Binetti