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Last Updated: Jan 30, 2007 - 9:20:54 AM |
by Kent Swanson
Lantana is wonderful and colorful addition to your garden. It has bi-colored flowers and a similar shape to the verbena. Most commonly the flowers are yellow and orange, but you can also find lavender, white, purple, and blue. Lantana also goes by the name of “White Sage,” although it is not technically a sage.
You can see lantana growing in the wilds of Mexico and Central America, and it has naturalized to warmer areas of the U.S. including Florida. It is a perennial in most parts of the country but will die off during extreme winters. Thus, you should treat it as an annual. USDA Cold Hardiness Zone 8 or 9 are considered good growing climates.
See Aztec Gardens for more info on other native plants of Mexico and Mesoamerica.
Lantana is easy to grow and drought tolerant. This makes it a useful plant for xeric-type gardens in drier parts of the country. It is also salt tolerant. It also makes a great container plant, spilling out of hanging baskets or in an attractive raised bed.
You should plant your lantana in full sun to partial shade. Lantana will grow in a variety of soil conditions, but well-drained soil with plenty of organic material mixed in will work best. If you don’t have your own organic compost at home, you can consider buying compost from your local nursery. Making your own compost is very easy and is an excellent way to recycle “green” material from your kitchen and garden. The best quality compost is from your own compost pile as many commercially available composts aren’t fully decomposed. To learn more about composting, we highly recommend this site: Guide to Composting.
Lantana can grow quite large, so you should consider how you want to grow it. Under correct conditions, it will grow to a small shrub. Pruning may be necessarily to maintain the plant's shape and pinching your plant back will encourage more blooms.
Lantana is easy to grow from starter plants and once you’ve had your plant for a while you can easily harvest the seeds. Wait until the seeds are black before you harvest them. You can dry out your seeds in a cool place for future use. The seeds are mildly toxic so keep them away from small children. For that matter, warn your children about eating the plant in general.
As far as pests and diseases, you may need to look out for mites and caterpillars, but they are not considered a serious problem.
For a nice photograph of the lantana flower, see the Master Gardener Training Course Plant ID at the University of Florida .
Kent Swanson is a freelance writer specializing in gardening, the environment, and travel. Check out these sites for more of his writing:
Aztec Gardens
Festival of Mexico
Flor Canto
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