Sleepy Oranges sharing lunch on Lantana!

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I really enjoyed seeing all the wonderful butterflies photos in the posts above. Here's a couple more:

A gulf frit seems to be showing off a white fur vest ...
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But all those polka dots win the fashion prize ...
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Miss Sherry, they just don't get much better than that yellow Tiger Swallowtail!! Great shots, bandjzmom and roselee!

The lantana (particularly the 'Miss Huff') exceeded even the buddleias in my garden in attracting butterflies.

Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) on MISS HUFF.
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Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus) on CITRUS BLEND.
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Monarch (Danaus plexippus) on CITRUS BLEND.
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Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos) on LUCKY
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Spicebush Swallowtail on MISS HUFF.
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Thanks for looking!

Bob

Y'all's pictures are gorgeous!
The gray hairstreak on the citrus blend is stunning, Bob!
Sherry

Beautiful! That Monarch looks so perfect.
I don't think I have any photos to contribute to this thread. Lantana is an annual for me. Sometimes they take off and grow really well and sometimes they look like they'd fit back into their four inch pot at the end of the season. I'm still trying to find a variety that the butterflies and I will all agree on.

Christie, that Monarch had emerged from his chrysalis less than an hour before that picture was taken...look closely and you'll see that the antennae are still not fully straight.

Also take a look at the lantanas at the Plant Delight site. They are all perennial varieties that they have tested for years.

Bob

I don't think there are any Lantanas hardy to zone 6, unless you provide lots and lots of protection in the form of heavy mulching, location (next to West or South side of house, etc. Miss Huff is one of, if not the, hardiest selections. I lost mine last winter when we had a horribly cold, wet year. I need to replace it. It didn't have as much protection as I would have liked, and that's probably why it died.

It probably attracted the most species of all, like Bob says. It is always in bloom, and it doesn't reseed for me. I think the seed is somewhat sterile. It also doesn't need deadheading like some flowers do to keep blooming. It gets very large - a monster, in fact. Mine was about 4' tall and 6' wide. But, oh, the butterflies and the dayflying moths, and the hummingbirds just loved it. One of my all time favorite nectar plants.

Susan

Susan,

I have a couple of monster lantanas that made it through last winter. If you are interested in seed, I've got plenty. It's a BF pleaser.

Sandy

I buy small plants in late spring for around $2.50. By late fall, they are huge. I end up replacing them every year. I don't have enough room to winter them over. They are a great plant for butterfly nectar.

Great pictures every one! We have wind and cold, but didn't get much snow. I really don't miss the snow (shoveling, shoveling).

Here the most interested BFs for my lantana are skippers. I grow Dallas Red that isn't supposed to be perennial here but because it is protected by my purple winter creeper ground cover & I mulch the ones that aren't covered by the ground cover, they come back every year!
I am planning to plant some other varieties in my new BF bed that readily produce seed. I think the pink varieties & yellow are more hardy than the others.

I don't think that all Lantanas are equal as far as butterfly attraction. I have had several that attract a few butterflies and one that didn't attract any at all - that was New Gold. The best new one I had this summer (new to me, that is) was Sunset Rose. It is a beautiful Lantana - colors of yellow, deep rose, and purple. Stunning! The butterflies and hummers loved it. I now find out is supposedly hardy to zone 7, so I hope I can find another one this spring. I planted this one in a pot, so doubt it will survive this winter. The blooms changed colors and the final color was a vivid deep rose, with some purple and yellow, too. I gotta find this one again.

Susan