From “Question Drawer: Treatment of Lantanas” in The Canadian Horticulturist (1899), Volume XXII by Fruit Growers Association of Ontario:
“Question: Sir, how should four-year-old lantana be treated?
“Answer: The lantana is a shrubby little plant, which after a long period of blooming should be rested by witholding water any more than may be necessary to keep them alive. When beginning to make new growth after resting, they should be repotted firmly into good rich soil, and the top should be severely pruned back. More water will be required as the plants begin to grow freely. Syringe the foliage frequently to keep the plants free from the red spider.”
From “On Being Drunk Among the Flowers and Surviving” in Quilted Memories with Our Ancestors by Barbara Youngblood Carr:
So tiny, your thin, colored wings,
painted pale-tan with blue spots,
entire body no bigger
than the lantana bloom
you perch upon….
Small wings fluttering.
you drink all the nectar
you can find
buried deep inside each flower,
long, thin, tubular tongue
mining the last drop.
Then you wobbly-bobbly fly
to the next blossom,
silent as a rainbow,
seeking more sugared,
life-sustaining juice,
desire pangs never completely sated,
always hungry….
Hello!
This is the second of two posts with photographs of lantana blooms from my garden. The first post is Chapel Hill Yellow Lantana, Early Autumn (1 of 2).
As easily entertained as I can be, I thought calling lantana a “shrubby little plant” (in the quotation up-top) was quite funny. It is indeed shrubby, but whether it’s little or not depends on your experience. Those whose photographs I show here are little because they’re restricted to the pots I scrunched them into, but if you move lantanas from pots to the ground for a year or so, they’ll succeed at filling the available space.
I have a pair of previously-potted Mary Ann Lantana plants in my front yard, which I’ve allowed to grow a bit wild for two seasons since they got frozen nearly to death a couple of years ago — and they’ve gone pretty quickly from being little shrubbies to taking over an 8-foot by 4-foot section of the yard. When or whether or not one should drastically cut back lantana can be controversial in Gardening World, but I’m only about a week away from heading out front and dramatically hacking them close to the ground — sort of like Joan Crawford did with her roses, but without the hysterical psychosis.
🙂
Thanks for taking a look!
