Hi Sherry,

just got back from the friends plant sale in Minnesota. Thanks to your glowing reviews I picked up 2 lantana: 1. bandana cherry 2. lucky red flame

I can't wait to get in the garden this weekend! Thanks again for all your great recommendations, Tony

PS. to anyone in Minnesota, the friends school plant sale is a GREAT place to get hard-to-find butterfly plants. It goes through Mother's day

Here is a link that might be useful: Friend's plant sale

Thanks for the encouragement. I am so glad that I bought the Sonset Lantanas. I also got a few of the Bandana series. I got one called Bandana cherry something and a Bandana Spreading gold. I got them all from Garden Harvest Nursery and they came so well packed. The best I think so far although Forest Farm does a great job packing plants as well. I bought a Son Samson Lantana too. Maybe I will try a Hot Lips Salvia also. I don't usually think of salvias as butterfly plants but I am giving some a try this year. And I am planning a trip to a native plant nursery to get some Pearly Everlastings for the American Painted Lady.

Now if I can just find some Boehmeria cylindrica (False Nettle) I will have all the local species covered. Murray

I got a Lantana last year marked "Sonset Rose". So far, I haven't been able to find it this year, but am hoping the nursery I got it at will eventually get it in again. It had THE most beautiful deep rose, yellow, and pink blooms on it. The rose was just a very deep, brilliant rose. The butterflies loved it.

I have googled it and looked at several Sonset Lantanas, but still haven't been able to find that one in my searches. I don't know if it was so new, it is not yet marketed heavily, or what the deal is, but I sure hope to find it again soon.

Susan

I looked up the Bandana series, and they're gorgeous, Susan!
I sure hope the Minnesota butterflies like lantana as much as ours down here do, Coolbutterfly!
Do you see red admirals often where you are, Murray? They're common here in early spring, and I see them fairly regularly other times of the year.
Yesterday afternoon I went out to get some more redbay for my palamedes swallowtails, and I found a big one, about ?3rd instar, about to turn green, on the tree. I brought that one into the cage with the ones its same size. Then, when I went to get some more passionvine for my variegated frits, I found a late instar caterpillar! I don't understand how VFs can grow to that size without me seeing them, especially when I scoured the vines it was on so thoroughly earlier this spring! The same thing used to happen in the past when I had a lot of VFs - amazing!
Sherry

Yes, misssherry, I do see a fair amount of RAs here and this week in fact. Some years more than other years but I see enough to want to provide them with their nettle needs. If worse comes to worse, I will send away for some seeds that I can winter sow but I am really hoping to secure some plants this year. I am not getting any younger as they say.

It has turned cool again here and I am hoping it will warm up again soon. I haven't seen a single pipevine swallowtail this season yet and my vines are literally taking over large sections of my yard on three sides. The A. californica has finally started acting like a groundcover in some areas and all I can do when I want to plant something is sneak it in here and there when the pipevine nearby turns its head for a moment. Amazingly, it is also growing over a fence and covering a section of yard that is in full sun. But it seems to be quite comfortable. So I need some adult females to find it this year. I worry a bit each season when I don't see them because I know they do a lot of spraying just north of me in "wine country". But Penny always seems to have plenty and she is much closer to that area than I am. Murray

I bought a Lantana Bandana Cherry Sunrise about a week ago. The flowers are very pretty. Can't wait to see it fill out and see what butterflies come to it. I have it in an eight inch planter with white sweet alyssum. For some reason in my area, finding sweet alyssum in the four or six packs has been difficult, everyone (so far as I've seen) has them in three inch pots for $4 a piece.

Karen

Thanks for the info Miss Sherry. It looks like you are having a good year for the V. Frits.

I am going to try to keep notes on the cultivars that seem to work better this year and post it at the end of the season. Like I said, I will try...

-Elisabeth

Murray, the situation you describe with your pipevines is exactly my situation. :( One of the original pipevines has colonized nearly all the way down the long fence - fortunately, the other plants in that bed don't seem to be getting crowded out.
I can send you some little false nettle plants - I have jillions - but I don't know if they'd survive the trip to California. E-mail me if you want some. They like it wet, and if they're happy, they'll grow a mile a minute and reseed at their base all over the place.
Karen, let us know how your lantana does in the container, also whether or not you get a lot of butterflies. Most people who grow lantana are in the South, so I'd like to know how they do up North. I've seen lantana growing wild in the dry sands of Dauphin Island, Alabama, also sandy areas of the Mississippi Coast, so good drainage must be very important to lantana. Mine are in raised beds. If I were growing it in a container, once it's established, I'd let it get pretty dry before watering again.
Thanks, Elisabeth! We'll be interested to hear!
Sherry

I forgot to mention an interesting thing that happened several days ago. Late in the evening a male pipevine swallowtail visited the garden. He flew all around all the pipevines, like he knew this vine was "him" if you know what I mean. He did this for about an hour or so, then flew off, and I haven't seen any pipevine swallowtails since then.
I mention this, because it's happened before, male pipevine swallowtails flitting around aristolochia like they realize its significance to them. I just hope he went to tell some females about it!:)
Sherry

Thanks so much, Misssherry, for the offer. I hate to put you through the trouble. It occurred to me that maybe I should try the Butterfly Garden nursery in Florida. I forget the name at the moment. I will let you know if I am successful.

I bought the Bandana Cherry Sunrise also and a few others as well. I can't wait to see what attraction they provide. I am hoping to see as many Gulf Frits this year as last year. My first butterfly plant was or is a Lantana Radiation Improved and it has been in the same pot for at least 14 years and every year it is one of the most beautiful Lantanas I have. Each year it looks dead as a door nail by the end of winter and by June it is the prettiest one I have. Actually, I have two in the same pot and the pot is HUGE. All I do is put compost on it twice a season and it seems fine.

I have been unable to find Sonset Lantana online. Does anyone know where I can order Sonset. Or does anyone have a few cuttings that they would consider in trade. James

I really would like this plant. Could anyone tell me where to order this? There are no Internet selers I could find. If there are no sellers, would someone be willing to trade for a few cuttings. I have Red Bandana, Licky yellow and gold lantana, Pink passion gaura, royla purple salvia and red pentas from Almost Eden. and a whole lot more that I can list if needed. James

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This post was edited by four on Wed, Jul 16, 14 at 1:44

The not finding of "Sonset Lantana" might be related to the fact that it is
good old L. camara; a cultivar thereof.
So, perhaps look for " Lantana camara 'Sonset' ".

This post was edited by four on Wed, Jul 16, 14 at 1:42

Based on this site and other recommendations I tried lantana in my garden this year. The plants are blooming like crazy but I have yet to see a single butterfly on it. Heck, even the bees are ignoring it and they never ignore a flower in my garden. Oh well, just leaves more space next year for something else.

It's always a hot spot in my garden. I do find that the butterflies in my yard prefer the brighter pink lantanas than the pastels, oranges and reds. they also prefer the trailing over the mounding varieties. I have TONS of other nectar plants (5 buddleia, a huge zinnia garden, Brazilian verbena, tithonia, penta, cone flowers, rudbeckia, milkweeds, etc) but the lantana is still #1.

~Laura

> Posted by Slatewiper
> have yet to see a single butterfly on it.

Much butterfly traffic overall?
If so, then what species? (skip the infrequent ones)
What other nectars are there?

Plants' nectar sweetness and/or volume can vary seasonally.
Nonetheless, it could be that these particular Lantana plants (not the species)
are nectar-poor.
Don't wipe the genus off the slate.

And get your replacement Lantana from a different source.

This post was edited by four on Wed, Jul 16, 14 at 10:45

After reading today's comments about Sonset lantana, I went out into my garden and made some pictures. A spicebush swallowtail wouldn't cooperate for a picture, and there was a tiger swallowtail that went back and forth between Ellen's Blue butterfly bush and the lantana, but I got these pictures in about 10 minutes - a male pipevine swallowtail -

This post was edited by misssherry on Wed, Jul 16, 14 at 14:05

Sonset IS a good nectar plant, at least for my area. Here's a silver spotted skipper -

The silver spotted skipper in the above picture was using the part of the plant that has reverted to the 'Ham & Eggs' lantana that Sonset came from. Here's a sleepy orange -

By the way, I don't recall saying that 'Sonset' was anything but a cultivar of Lantana camera. I've never thought it was anything exotic, just a good nectar plant.
If there aren't any butterflies in a given area, no nectar plant will magically produce them to come and nectar on your nectar plants. You have to have lots of host plants around.
Here's an unidentified brown skipper -

Four, Butterfly traffic is good. Some Frits, a lot of skippers and sulphurs, and some Swallowtails. The Lantana is in a fairly large (200 sq ft) Butterfly garden with Coneflower, Swamp Milkweed, 3 species of Liatris, Purple Prairie Clover and a ton of Tropical Milkweed just coming in to bloom.

This Lantana has been blooming since mid May. It's a beautiful plant just not getting any Butterflies, or anything else, interested in it.

I watched a Palamedes nectar on my Lantana for about 30mins today. It would leave, fly around a bit and come right back to the Lantana. It didn't even check out the other flowers, Pentas, Butterfly Bush, Tropical Milkweed, and others. I don't know the Lantana varieties since they were unlabeled at the nursery, but it's the multicolored types with pinks, reds and yellows.

Five beautiful photos.

I have several Sonset Lantanas. I'm in zone 6b in SC Kansas. They came back this spring from the roots, so they appear to be pretty hardy. How hardy? I'm not sure about that one. I guess if they come back five to six years in a row, I can safely say that they are very hardy for lantanas. But since this is only the second year I've had them, I'm a ways off from making that proclamation. One thing IS for sure. They are very beautiful.

I am still waiting for my so set lantana to bud in zone 7.

They may already be budding. Mine starting budding way down at the base where the trunk and ground meet. I transplanted mine. When I dug them up there were lots of buds underneath the trunk just below the surface of the ground that I couldn't see until I dug them up. If you're leaving them where they are at, just let them be until early May. I bet you'll see some buds by then.

I didn't mention this before, but I had two Sonset lantanas that were on the south side of my house but a little bit closer to western exposure than the others. They are budding too, but are taking a little bit longer than the others. I will post some photos on this thread so you can see what I'm talking about. Don't lose hope. If they are mulched and had some protection from the north wind last winter they will probably re-sprout.

Murray,

Another option: Boehmeria cylindrica (False Nettle) can be quickly and easily grown from seed, too. If you can't locate a plant, seed will provide you with lots of plants this season. I just looked for a source for seed and saw a little false nettle plant for $5.95 plus s/h and they were all sold out. Yikes! These things grow like wildfire so for this particular plant, I feel that is quite costly.

~Mary

Is false nettle aggressive?

I have Lantana growing in my butterfly garden. I don't know the name but it is flowering profusely. I am in Sarasota, Florida. It is being used by Monarchs, Swallowtails and Sulphurs. Maybe someone can identify it. I planted it last year and it had no name.

Jane

That looks like a Dallas Red. Does it produce seeds?

The Sonset lantana in my above pictures had already reverted to the pink and yellow 'Ham & Eggs', so I had had it for several years when the pictures were made. It's still going strong in 2015, coming back from the roots, but not yet blooming. It grows to about ?5' tall and about ?6' wide each year, so I cut it back a lot. It's got about a foot or more of new growth on it now.

This one is certainly for keeps! :)

Sherry

P.S. I didn't mean that the whole plant has reverted to 'Ham & Eggs' just one section.

James,

I grow mine in pots and it does readily reseed. I'm not sure whether it would easily spread by the roots if planted in a bed. Hopefully, someone who grows it in ground will comment.

~Mary

MissSherry, yes Sonset can do that. It can have multiple colors on one flower or on an entire section of the plant. That's why Sonset is considered by some to be the most colorful of all the cultivated lantanas.

In my area of South-central Kansas Skipper Butterflies and Painted Ladies seem to be the most attracted to lantanas. I have seen occasional Monarchs and Viceroys visit my lantanas too.

Skipper Butterfly on Sonset Lantana blossom

Painted Lady Butterfly on Sonset Lantana blossom

Ok I would like to know any tips on growing lantanas. Mine are planted in the ground here in Florida. I bought several of them just like the picture above last fall and it's growing but then over the winter it died out a little but then started regrowing again this spring but slowly. How often should I water this? This spring has been awful down here with the lack of rain so I try to water them twice a week as I do for the rest of the garden. ANy tips would be great.

Different varieties of lantana grow to different sizes, so, if you can remember the varieties you planted, you could research them on the internet. Sonset grows big like the plant it came from, the old Ham & Eggs lantana, but I've got a solid yellow one that stays small. Lantana doesn't like too much water. I've probably watered mine less than 10 times, maybe less than 5 times, in the many years I've had it. I've only thrown fertilizer around it once or twice, and even then, very little. Lantana is a 'wild' sort of plant, can grow entirely on its own. Even if you're having a big drought, I wouldn't water it twice a week. I'm sure you've seen it growing wild along roadsides.

angelimperfect36: Lantanas are really easy to grow. Since you're in Florida lantanas will be especially easy to grow and you won't have to take the winter precautions that those of us further north have to take. In other words, lantanas for you should be a plant it and forget it type of shrub as long as you get the right cultivar. You'll want a seedless variety, and size is important for you since you have a longer growing season (pretty much all year). The only thing you need to determine is how much room you have for a lantana. In Kansas, some cultivars of lantanas can easily reach 7' wide by 4' tall. In Florida they can easily reach 10' wide. Do you have 10' of room for one lantana? A really nice compact 2' seedless variety is called Lantana camara 'Salsa'. Sometimes its sold as Lantana camara 'Carolina Salsa', because it was developed at nursery in North Carolina. Its approximately 2' in diameter and is seedless. It is probably the most beautiful salsa I have ever seen, both in form and color. It has a mounded form and is perfectly round (seriously). The leaves are flawless and the dark red and orange flowers sit just above the foliage. Below is a photo of the one I grew a couple of years ago. It' the little one on the right.