If I were you I'd let the lantana tell me whether or not it needs fertilizing. If it's growing vigorously, then I'd not fertilize it - if it's not growing a lot and blooming prolifically (when hot weather gets here) then I'd fertilize it.
I planted a Sonset lantana several years ago and incorporated my usual chicken manure into the soil. I haven't fertilized or watered it since then, and it continues to grow like a weed and bloom, bloom, bloom anyway. And I've seen lantana growing wild on Dauphin Island in sand and along roadsides in sandy, poor soil on the MS Gulf Coast, so it's definitely a plant that needs a lot less fertilizing than the average plant. If I had it to do over again, I'd only put a dab of chicken manure in with the planting mix - my Sonset is the lantana that ate Pittsburgh!
Here's just a small section of it -
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MissSherry

I purchased a hardy lantana this year, that is supposedly the hardiest of the hardy lantanas, called 'Miss Huff'. Does anyone else here grow it? It is the multi-colored, pink, yellow, etc. I hope it works!

Susan

Susan,
I purchased the same type about 3 weeks ago before the frost killed 4 of them. Maybe it is not all lost, I will keep them and just wait, but the ones in the ground look terrible right now.. :(
Susanne(SUE)

Sue,

There's a chance they'll come back--unless they were just too tiny. Mine die down to the ground every winter, and start coming up again right about now. I've also noticed that they tend to pop up here and there in my garden every year where I haven't planted them.

Treelover,
thanks for your response, the ones that froze were very tiny..I recently purchased them at Home Depot..
I just wait and see what happens..
Thanks again
Susanne(SUE)

I love lantana. It's everything I want in a plant. It requires no care, it smells good, and it attracts butterflies from miles around.

Miss Huff is one of three varieties that I have, a pass-along from Terramadre three or four years ago. The others are Sonset and Lantana Gold. They all die back to woody sticks each winter, but they regrow from the roots every spring. By midsummer they are enormous mounds, completely covering the ground around and between my buddleia bushes. Before I realized that they would grow back, I used to pull out the roots of the apparently dead plants and put in new ones, but I haven't made that mistake in years. I never fertilize them and only water when the buddleia start to wilt from drought. It may not be the best way to take care of them, but they keep coming back for more. They make a solid mass of foliage and flowers, so that I don't even have to weed.

I spent the winter in the mountains of southern Mexico, where it was colder than I expected (although not as cold as here in Alabama). I planted a small white lantana there a few days before a surprise hard freeze. I thought that plant was completely dead, but after a few weeks, it had new green leaves. It had not bloomed again before I left, but it had a lush covering of leaves.

So I am a believer in lantana's ability to recover from cold and to withstand the most adverse conditions. Before you give up on lantana that look dead, check the stems down next to the ground for signs of life. They may surprise you.

Here's a picture of Miss Huff from last summer:
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I have found that if I water it regularly it won't bloom, the ones I had that did the best were the ones I ignored.....here I was feeding and watering, and no blooms.....so I cover my sprinkler heads near mine, and I'm adding more as they are a good nectar plant, although I've read that they have escaped cultivation....my new ones got hit by the freeze, but often they come back. give it a couple weeks. Boy I hate those late freezes!

D2E here in our neck of the woods lantand doesn't need much care and will grow like crazy. For years I thought lantana was just a weed. It is a butterfly magnet so I have learned to love it. My soil is poor and my bushes get to be a really nice size every year. I just trim them back in late winter and give them a little fertilizer in early spring. They do great with very little attention.

I got a small pot of Miss Huff several years ago for $1.00 at a hardware store. They, nor I, didn't even know what it was because there was no label. I just thought it was pretty.

It bloomed nicely for two years, then just didn't come back. When I went to pull it up, the root system seemed to go on forever. What a surprise because the above ground portion hadn't gotten very large in those two years.

Yes, lantana spreads by root runners - I pull it up from distances far from where I originally planted it.
My lantana is in a raised bed for drainage. I imagine the only thing that would kill it is too much water, so, if it's planted directly in the ground, the constant wet soil of winter might kill it.
MissSherry

OMG - you all have been so informative about this plant, and I'm so glad I got it! I think I have it located in a place where it will be very, very happy. This location is kind of on a slope where my sidewalk is bordered by a wood stretch platform, so the water drains down the slope and under the wood platform. The guy who had this house many years ago, had a thing for building wood decks and platforms. In this instance, it is just a great location for plants that want good drainage. It is also where my lavendar is located, and we all know what good drainage they demand!

It is good to know that it is a good nectar plants (I was worried a bit about that because some lantanas, like the 'New Gold' I bought last year, are not. Also, it is BEAUTIFUL in full flower. The pictures I saw of it are not near as demonstrative of the beauty of the plant.

Susanne, mine had a pretty good root system on it - purchased it from Mail Order Natives (love their plants, can't say enough good things about them). It had started to put on foliage and I was concerned it would be bitten, but it wasn't. The foliage still looks great. The plant is about 18" tall and had bare stems when I got it, but has leafed out since then.

How tall does it get? I know it spreads, but wasn't sure about the height.

We normally don't get as much rain as everybody east and south of Oklahoma. The 4 1/2" we got a week or so ago was very unusual, because we are lucky to get 1/2" or 1" at a time. So, I don't think I'm going to have to worry about soggy soil (crossing fingers).

Gcertain - you are BACK! So glad to see you here on the forums again.

Susan

Susan, your Miss Huff sounds alot like one of mine. It is indeed hardy, and should come back for you. It may not grow quite as tall the 1st year, but mine get about 36 inches tall, and about as wide. It sure does bring the butterflies, even with triple digit temps, and drought conditions.

Welcome back, Geni. Hope that you have lots of pics and stories about your winter stay in Mexico.

Gcertain - Do the butterflies like all three of your lantanas?

Last year was my first year to grow Lantana. I was impressed with how fast it grew. I may have watered it a few times but I'm sure I didn't fertilize it and I have poor soil. I kept seeds from the one the butterflies liked best and now have two itty bitty seedlings.

Is Miss Huff a pretty common variety? Maybe I can find one locally. Someone mentioned in another thread that Athens Rose was hardy in zone 7. Is anyone getting that one to winter over in 7? I'm in zone 6 but I'd be willing to try.

Does anyone know which cultivars are supposed to be sterile? I'd like to grow lantana, but I don't want them to reseed everywhere.

Is the "New Gold" a poor nectar plant? I bought 4 last fall, and they flowered nice, but if they're not with nectar, I'll pull them up. No room for freeloaders in my front beds!

My Sonset is sterile. That's one of the things I like best about it - you don't have to keep cutting off those seeds! It spreads by root runners though and gets big.
I think New Gold is seedless, too, but I'm not sure.
MissSherry

I love my 'Miss Huff'. I've had it for about 10 years now and it's one of my favorites. It dies back each year and resprouts from the ground. Mine is about 8' high by 6' wide. I've never fertilized, watered or pruned. Each spring, as the new growth appears, I cut back the previous years dead stems. It doesn't reseed in my zone.

Heather

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Thank you for more great input, Heather! 'New Gold' did put out seed pods, altho they may have been sterile, I still cut them off to continue bloom. If you don't, the plant will eventually put its energy into producing seed, albeit sterile, and stop blooming.

'New Gold' was NOT a good nectar plant for me, and I believe others have tried it and said the same thing. It has, however, been noted as a host plant - I believe for one of the skippers - on the Dallas Lepidopterist website. I did not have any caterpillars on it, but could have missed them, too.

Christie - I bet it would overwinter if you mulched it really, really well. I need to e-mail you re: your Pawpaw seeds - did they work?

Susan

I did find out that "Miss Huff" is supposed to be self sterile and not produce seeds as long as there are no other Lantanas nearby to pollinate it. I'll probably try to find one of those.

If you can't find it locally, Alabamatreehugger (love that name), you can order from Mail Order Natives. Everybody here who has ordered from Amy has had very good luck with her plants.

Susan

I have been ordering trees from Amy for a few years now and I agree, she gets an A+ in my book. I didn't know she sold Lantana though.

Most interesting thread! The lantana I've had actually smelled quite nasty! It didn't seem to be attractive to any of the lepidoptera around here either so I eventually took it out. I do have one at school and again, no one seems interested in it there either. :P Maybe it is another one of those regional things? tee-hee!

I see lantana growing everywhere and I don't think I've ever seen a butterfly on it! Strange, isn't it? It was one of the FIRST plants I purchased when I first started my 'hobby' since it was the one everyone raved about, too!

Yes that is strange. I have just dug up 4 sprouts from under one of my lantanas for new plants. The butterflies can't stay away from it when it is in bloom. Grows like a weed. Very little care required. I will say that I don't care too much for the way it smells.

I am surprised that any variety of lantana is not attractive to butterflies. I planted Gold (don't know if it was New Gold, the label said "Lantana Gold") before anything else -- milkweed, buddleia, echinacea, or any other variety of lantana -- and the butterflies seemed to like it just fine. Especially Gulf Fritillaries. I'm not sure if I still have any of it growing, as those were the plants that I yanked out and replaced, thinking they were dead. Here's one from 2003:
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Thanks for the welcome back. I have posted a number of Mexico butterfly pics in the gallery.

WOW, great pic, Geni! I loved your pictures in the Gallery, BTW. :)

Yeah, it is really weird. Like I said, perhaps it is a regional thing. I went to school today and cut back my one lantana. Everyone seems to like the other plants I have but the only one who likes the lantana are the !@#$% cut/army-worms. blech

Welcome back Geni!
Your Miss Huff looks great, Curt!
I looked up Miss Huff lantana and read that it was found in a garden somewhere in north Georgia. For a lantana to survive there, it almost certainly has to be a sport of the old 'ham & eggs' lantana, which is the hardiest type with pink and yellow flowers. Sonset, my lantana, is also a ham & eggs sport - it was found in Clinton, MS. There's one section of it that reverts to the original pink and yellow flowers, but I don't like that part as well, so I cut it back. Miss Huff shows the same rainbow of colors that Sonset does, only with a little more pink.
Here's an older picture of my Sonset -
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MissSherry

Beautiful photos of everyones lantana! Alabamatreehugger - I misspoke, I got my 'Miss Huff' from Woodlanders, and a very nice size plant it was.

Susan

I did buy a couple Lantana "New Gold" today at a local nursery. They are reportedly seedless. I planted them around my Koi pond, so now I can watch butterflies and dragonflies.
Also, while I was out using the WeedEater in the ditch today, I saw what looked very much like Lantana foliage. I decided to leave one just to see if that's what it is.

ATH - yes, let us know how you do with New Gold. It may just be a regional thing with that plant. However, Cathy in PA said that she didn't have any luck with hers either. It could be that the butterflies had other nectar plants available in my garden that they preferred over the lantana New Gold. The GFs preferred the tropical milkweed, zinnias, and verbena bonariensis. The Monarchs preferred the tropical milkweed for nectaring as well, plus the single flowering pink zinnias. Just about all the butterflies loved the tropical milkweed. I probably should give the L. New Gold another try to see if they like it this year. It seems that butterflies can be fickle. One year they like a plant and the next they don't. What up there?

Susan

This is a great thread.

Lantana became popular up here in New England a few years back when I was working at the nursery.It's usually marketed under the Proven Winners brand. There are several varieties, like Confetti, New Gold, Firewagon, Desert Sun, etc. They were meant to be grown as annuals here, rarely reaching more than a foot or two high.

I had high hopes for them to be butterfly plants after seeing the way lantana bushes attracted them in Florida.

Yet our butterflies never liked them. I'm assuming that it's because of the hybridizing. Perhaps I'll try to find a Miss Huff since it works so well for Curt in PA.

Of all those hybrids, I actually did see a few late season American Ladies and Monarchs checking out a New Gold hanging basket at a nursery. I brought it home and nobody bothered with it here!

The Mockingbirds, however, loved the berries they produced.

I have a gold lantana in a hanging basket on my roof garden in Brooklyn, NY. I've found that it attract butterflies. I was lucky enough to grab a great photo, in this link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Butterfly in my lantana

When I used to have butterfly bushes and lantana within 6' of each other, the small butterflies and skippers always went for the lantana. OTOH, I never saw the swallowtails or monarchs use the lantana.

KC

A very helpful thread--was wondering whether to just leave my stems over the fall/winter or cut back anything and, if so, when! Thanks for letting me know to leave them alone and cut back any dead stems next spring. I have Miss Huff and some others I don't know the name of. All were given to me by a friend and I planted them in the sunny oval in my upper driveway--however, they may take over the entire butterfly garden if they grow like some I've seen around this summer--they are great hulking shrubs, some at least 6' tall by 10' wide! They thrive on our dry, hot late summers. So, I'm already considering other spots to 'share them' in as they will soon crowd out the coneflowers, blanket flowers, salvia, butterfly bush, bee balm, etc., I have planted there! They do lure in the butterflies but all of my plants in that oval have also been abuzz with plenty of bumble bees this summer--sadly, no honey bees that I have seen but bumble bees pollinate as well so they are certainly welcome. I've even seen a hummingbird or two enjoy the lantana.

Jody

In Texas this is pretty much a weed. Not in a bad way but it grows like a weed, doesn't require much attention and I see it growing all over the place when I'm hiking. I have a few in front of the house which usually I cut down to the ground in the late autumn and after a few weeks of summer weather they will be huge and will flower all summer.