Lantana - Millie Davenport

Hi, I am Millie Davenport, a horticulture extension agent with the Clemson University Home and Garden Information Center.

Today we are going to look at Lantana.

Today we are outside the Geology Museum, here in the South Carolina Botanical Gardens and we are going to take a look at the Lantana growing around this building. Lantana is a native to southern Texas and the tropical regions of the Americas. And as you can tell, it is well loved for its flower power all through summer, the dog days of summer, up until frost. Lantanas, in general, are one of those few plants that love the heat and will perform all summer long while a lot of your other annuals and perennials fizzle out. So, this is a great addition to the garden for that reason. Lantanas, in general, are considered to be half-hardy perennials. Basically, meaning that they are going to reliably overwinter in the coastal regions of South Carolina, but once you get up into the Upstate, they are not necessarily going to make it through the winter time. But there are a couple of cultivars that are very valuable to the upstate for the reason that they do overwinter for us up here. So, we are going to start out looking at a couple of those cultivars.

This is Lantana camara Miss Huff. Miss Huff was selected from a garden in northern Georgia for its beautiful flower color as well as for its hardiness. Miss Huff is a very vigorous grower. As you can see here, she will reach, in one growing season, up to 5 to 6 ft. Miss Huff here has really nice flowers that open up starting off as a really light kind of apricot-ish almost orange-yellow colored flower, and as they age, the outer circular part of the cluster of the flower, do darken into a really nice shade of orange.

This is another hardy selection of Lantana. This is Mozelle. Mozelle is hardy all the way through the up state as well as the coastal regions of South Carolina. Now, the interesting thing about Mozelle is that it does have some local interest to it, because it is a local selection. Dr. David Bradshaws friend, Mozelle Smith, brought this plant back from Texas to the upstate of South Carolina. And, that is the origination of it. And it was named in her memory, Mozelle. Mozelle is loved for its hardiness as well as for its interesting bi-colored flowers. When they open up, they are more of a shade of yellow, kind of a light yellow color, and as the flowers age they turn into this beautiful shade of pink. Mozelle is a really vigorous grower like Miss Huff and it also has a really nice mounded habit to it as well.

Lantana, in general, is a very vigorous grower. Its really going to do best in a full sun location, with a well-drained soil. The full sun, you want about 6 hours or more per day where you are going to get the best flower power from that sunlight. Now, with a well-drained soil, that is really crucial for the Lantana. And, the reason is, that if you have a wet winter, those roots end sitting in the moisture that stays in the soil if it is not well-drained, and that can cause freeze damage to the plant.

Whether you are choosing Lantana for its ability to attract butterflies to your garden, for its drought tolerance, or even for its salt tolerance on the coastal region of the state, or even just for its flower power in the landscape, it will make a great addition to any sunny landscape.

For more information on gardening, landscaping, insect and disease problems on your plants, visit the Home & Garden Information Center web site at www.clemson.edu/hgic.