>Let’s hear it for Lantana, one of Claycord’s most summer hardy families of plants. Lantana boasts prolific blooms of gold, purple, pink, red, orange and white from early summer through late fall. This family of plants is easy to grow, water-wise and long blooming. They rule our Claycord gardens and landscapes while the weather is hot and the winds are dry.
Lantana was originally sold as a groundcover and growers planted piles of purple trailing Lantana everywhere. Trailing purple Lantana has a small, oval dusty green, textured leaf. Woody stems stretch outwards of 3-4 feet long and are covered with nickel size grayish-purple globes of tiny flowers. Trailing purple Lantana puts on some height as it matures. You can expect piles to reach over 2 feet tall eventually. The height happens faster if you have to control the width.
The white Lantana was the next sought after color on the block. This selection grows just as well as the purple, with all the same growth habits. The leaf color and texture is the same, and of course the flower color is white rather than purple.
The gold color trailing Lantana that you may have seen is called New Gold. While some may not be attracted to the dusty green leaf of the original Lantana colors, the New Gold is a superior yellow selection with a deep green colored leaf.
All of the trailing Lantana has the possibility to grow taller than expected. This usually has to do with placement of the plant and the care it is given. If you install your trailing Lantana along a retaining wall, then you prune back often during the growing season to control the plants growth, the Lantana has no other option than to grow up. This rule is true for many of the horizontal growing plants. Plants must grow, if you control their growth one way, they’ll grown another.
The bush Lantanas are very desirable with more color selection. They tend to develop slowly into shrubs. Bush Lantanas can reach heights of 4-5’ tall and wide. This will take some time; our cold winters make the process slow. Dallas Red, Confetti and Irene are the most popular colors of bush Lantana. They have been around for years, and predictable and very reliable.
Dallas Red’s color takes a journey. The globe shaped flower begins as a group of small red flowers with some gold and orange in the mix. As the flowers on the Dallas Red Lantana matures, the gold and orange turns to a bright, yellow based red.
Confetti is another colorful Lantana that starts out as one shade and changes into another. The flower of the Confetti Lantana starts off as a group of pastel pink and yellow with just a couple of white tiny flowers creating its globe. Within a day the multi-color pastel blossom changes to nice light pink. Confetti isn’t the showiest Lantana on the shelf, but planted against a dark backdrop, like an old fence, Confetti becomes alive.
Irene is a favorite of mine. This selection of bush Lantana starts off as a globe of mostly magenta pink with a handful of tiny orange and yellow accent flowers. Eventually the blossom matures to a solid magenta. This bold color works well with red foliage and blue flowering plants.
Colorful Lantana thrives in our Claycord landscapes and gardens from June through November. During the winter months Lantana can appear dry and dead. Treat it like a perennial. Enjoy your Lantana when it’s beautiful and don’t fret when it rests. In the middle of March, cut back the dry, woody stems of your Lantana to make room for the new season’s growth.
Lantana is very bee and butterfly attractive, and pest and disease tolerant. It is a great installation for anyone needing blasts of bold color in their summer landscape.
Happy Gardening!
Nicole Hackett is the Garden Girl at R&M Pool, Patio and Gardens, located at 6780 Marsh Creek Road in Clayton, 925-672-0207.
Nicole writes for the Clayton Pioneer Newspaper, and Claycord.com. She is also the Clayton Valley Garden Club 2012 President.
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