I adore lantana! I currently have five varieties growing. I have yet to find any here that are true perrenials (occasionally I'll get one or two out of mass planting that will come back), but I still enjoy planting them every year and have witnessed and photographed many varieties of butterflies and hummingbirds nectaring on them. They are fabulous!
~Laura

Hi Bob!
Do you find any work better at attracting butterflies? Does the Samantha work well? I love that variegated foliage.
Cheers,
Elisabeth

Elisabeth, this is my first year growing Chapel Hill Yellow and the Ham & Eggs, so I can't be quite as sure of my results. Of the others, it is 'Miss Huff' by a ton...however, 'Miss Huff' reached a far greater size...4' x 12' approximately and had hundreds of blooms at all times. I really believe that it was plant size and bloom numbers that gave it such an edge.

There have not been any bad performers in my garden.

Bob

Gorgeous pictures, Bob!
I've got Sonset, a red one that I think is Dallas Red, and New Gold up front by the road.
I'd like to get Miss Huff - it's one that reportedly grows as big as Sonset, and your comments affirm that.
Sherry

Yes, beautiful photography. Nice zoom!
I love the variegated, which cultivar is that? I find several
kinds of butterflies down here like them. The Frits love the nectar. Ours do stay year round, I have one that is over 4 ft. tall with very woody base, like a shrub. It's the original
mulit-colored flower. I love these too :)
But where oh were...did you find the variegate? :)

MsMorningSong, I have found Samantha as young potted plants at several nurseries...even one roadside stand. Thanks for your comments.

Bob

Thank you Bob, I'm going to have to keep my eyes open for Samantha. I adore lantana.

i love lantanas. i was given some on freecycle last year & immediately decided it will always have a spot in my gardens!

It's interesting...here in North Texas, the lantana isn't one of the most chosen nectar plants in my garden. It seems to be most preferred by the skippers! I have Dallas Red that has come back now going on 4 seasons & it even got down to 6 & 9 degrees this last winter, & it came back in 4 of 5 places I have it planted. I don't have the yellow but it comes back quite often here. The white is definitely an annual as well as the varigated. I was hoping it would return but didn't.
My #1 nectar plant is buddleia with tropical milkweed,garden phlox, & zinnias coming in a tie for 2nd. Blue Mist Flower is a monarch & queen favorite, also! During late summer/early fall the Cowpen daisies are the most used by all butterflies here.
Love your pictures, Bob!!! Thanks for sharing!

Miss Huff looks a lot like the wild lantanas that grow almost everywhere here in Central Florida. They are very drought resistant, attract butterflies,sometimes hummingbirds, and they produce small berries that the birds eat.

I have never seen the Ham and Eggs. I wonder where that can be purchased?

One that is very fragrant and the butterflies love is Lantana montevidensis. It has small purple flowers that bloom in flushes starting in the spring. I have a relatively large clump in the front of my house. I can smell it from far away. Apparently so can the butterflies.

Lantanas have been my favorites for years and were the first things I planted. Here the perennials are Chapel Hill, Radiation Improved, Star Landing, Ham 'n' Eggs, Sonset, Christine and Irene. Oh, and Miss Huff. But the ones that I have had the longest are Radiation improved, Star Landing, Ham 'n' Eggs, Christine and Sonset. This year I am trying some new varieties to test their hardiness and to see if the butterflies like them. Some say that they attract butterflies on the tag and some don't so I am not sure if that means that they don't or that the seller just isn't concerned about that feature. We are on the border as far as zones are concerned. Some catalogs list us as 9 and some 8. We unfortunately get a fair amount of nights in the 20's during winter and we often get those temps at the end of winter. This past winter we got a few nights like so plants that looked good all winter took a terrible beating when I thought we were in the clear. Then we had excessive rain even as late as last week and cool temps that kept things from taking off sooner. Now we are in the triple digits all of a sudden.

On a brighter note though, yesterday I saw my first PVS of the season and collected a batch of eggs she left behind. And I have a bunch of Gulf Frit cats and eggs. And the last two days the Anise Swallowtails have been active laying eggs as well. I also have a new 9 and a half week old German Shepherd puppy to take care of. She is a longcoat and very large. The lady I got her from said I would have my hands full with her and she was right. But she is soooo cute. Though I HATE the house-breaking business. Murray

Thank you for sharing pix of your Lantana and which are annual versus perennial in our region. I am to go to a friend's house tomorrow to dig up some of her Lantana. I hope it's Miss Huff. I have tried to create a butterfly garden this year in my driveway circle and have had lots of the small ones (I don't know the various types of butterflies) on my Buddleia (sp) Black Knight and my coneflowers and Shasta Daisies.

Lantana is sure a good way to attract butterflies, joraines!
And you can't get any more carefree than lantana.
I thought that Miss Huff was sterile, Tom. I'll check it out to see for sure, because I've gotten spoiled to no berries (which they say are poisonous) and if Miss Huff does indeed make berries, I won't plant it.
Sherry

I tried to overwinter a lantana in an attached garage this year, but it didn't survive. I'll have to try it again next year with one of the perennial varieties and maybe I'll have better luck. I sucessfully overwintered black and blue salvia and agapanthus this year!

Your pictures are beautiful.