Monarchs are really attracted to pink flowers. They love my pink zinnias. I've raised about 90 this summer. I have the yellow lantana, but they seem to ignore it. BTW, your Monarch is a female! Do you have milkweed?

Susan

No, Susan, I don't have any Milkweed although I did sow an entire new bed with seeds of what I had been told in a swap was Milkweed. Turned out to be Pigweed, which in my ignorance, I allowed to set seed before I got it all cut down. Soooooooo...I'll probably be covered up with Pigweed next year because there were millions of itsy, bitsy seeds everywhere. :-( Sure has discouraged me from wanting to do future seed swaps.

The yellow and gold Lantana have been getting a lot of Monarchs, Painted Ladies and Pearl Crescents but they ARE really drawn to that Irene...the hot pink must be their favorite color. lol! I have had Spicebush Swallowtail and Eastern Tiger Swallowtail that seem to be fascinated with some red Salvia that just started blooming a couple of weeks ago. And, of course, the Hummers just swarm all over it. :-)

I adore the lantana, too. It really seems to come into its own when the heat is full force, and even when summer is winding down. It's also perennial here, even though they say it isn't! Gotta love it!!! My most popular seems to be my red Texas Flame. It even brings neighbors up in my yard asking what it is! ;o) I've also got the Ham & Eggs heirloom variety, and then another darker pink one...maybe Irene? And of course, New Gold. I agree, if you love butterflies, it's a "must have". I have it growing at the base of my larger Asclepias...the Monarchs are very territorial about it! They buzz me regularly! ;o)

HW

Hmmmmm...red Texas Flame? I haven't seen that one yet. I saw one with an orange\yellow combo at Lowes in the Spring but I think it was tagged as Texas Lantana. What colors are in the "Ham and Eggs"? Maybe something similar to the "Pink Dawn"??? I really haven't had a lot of luck finding different ones locally. I bought the only two teeny bedding plants of the "Pink Dawn" that a nursery had Mothers Day, never realizing how big and gorgeous they would get.

For this part of the country, I don't think you can beat them for good, reliable bloom from May until hard freeze, require little or no maintenance, drought tolerant, etc.

The "Irene" has so many color combo's on the one bush, it's unbelievable. I'm always fascinated with these beautiful plants! This was taken earlier, sometime in August, and it has twice as many blooms now. Love it!!! :-)

The Texas Flame is the bright red/orange/yellow. It's also known as Dallas Red. I bet if it was labeled Texas Lantana, it's probably the same. Lowe's isn't overly concerned with correct names, you know? ;o)

The ham and eggs are pink and yellow. If Pink Dawn is an old cultivar, then they are probably one and the same.

I almost forgot-I picked up a lavender trailing lantana at Lowe's the other day. I think it was 25 cents! I haven't tried it before and can't wait for it to bloom! Purple is my favorite color. I hope it does as well as the others!

HW

You'll love the lavender Lantana. I had it a couple of years ago but failed to plant it on the south side of the house where it would have overwintered. Left it on the north side and it croaked! :-(

I raised about 100 Monarchs this summer. They are so beautiful. The neighbors were wondering why they saw so many butterflies!

Here are the Monarch caterpillars:

It was fun, but they really take a lot of work. If I wasn't on disability leave, I don't know that I could have done it.

Susan

I am so glad you brought up the subject of lantanas. They are one of my favorites, and I have them all through my rose garden.

Do you have any idea how we can keep them alive through the winter? Sometimes mine come back around the middle of July, but that is too late. I spent a lot of money for the 2 at my church - they are large with large roots, and stayed alive all summer. I would love to figure out if there is a way to keep them alive in teh grouond.

SAmmy

Susan, your Monarch pix are gorgeous. I'm sure you enjoyed the work that went into all those babies. :-)

Sammy, it has been my experience that any Lantana I plant in the beds on the south side of my house, flourish and begin blooming by late May and don't stop until a hard freeze. One thing necessary is to be sure they get an occasional supplemental watering over the winter and by the end of March, pull back any mulch and trim off dead wood. As soon as the sun can reach them, they will start growing very quickly. They have their own little microclimate that is more suited to their needs. Any that I've tried to leave in the ground on the north side of the house have croaked, whether they were heavily mulched or not.

Rosie

I love lantanas and always had some when we lived in east Texas but they don't winter over here in the ozarks.(z6) have tried several times.The monarchs love my pink flowered sedums but the deer got into my flowers for the first time and ate my sedums down to stubs, thus no blooms now.
Vickie

Tulsarose, I was just wondering if you have ever collected seed from your Lantana and raised your own. I was thinking...that I heard somewhere...that they would not turn out to be the same color. Mine have tons of seed and I hate to see them go to waste.
Shawna

Shawna, I don't "do" seeds...my green thumb turns totally black when it comes to seeds. lol! Lantana cuttings root very easily in water and you can also divide the mama plant. This way I know I'll have the same color I started with. Seeds from some hybrids don't come true to the plant they are taken from.

Rosie

LOL! I thought the same about myself until I tried winter sowing. You should try it, it's really fun and not at all hard. Maybe, I'll go ahead and try the Lantana seed and see what color I end up with...I always did like surprises! I think I'll root some cuttings too. Thanks Rosie!

Shawna

Rosie, I took some Lantana cuttings today. Should I just pot them when they get roots and give them as much sun as I can? I have good south and east exposure.

I plan to mulch the outdoor ones real heavy after frost.

Lantana are one of my favorites both for the sheer mass of blooms and the fact that the gophers leave them alone. I tuck them in everywhere; around roses and leggy shrubs, over open areas that are hot and dry and basically neglected, and they thrive. I just planted a good sized bed of them around the bottle trees that I expect will come into their full glory next year. (IOW, 3 to 4 feet and blooming like there's no tomorrow)

I have the solid white, white/yellow center, pink/yellow (reminds me of a birthday party), red/orange (Dallas red), solid orange, pure gold and a bright, lemony yellow without the orange undertones. I also have another variety called "Lucky Peach", which is a dark peachy pink with a yellow center.

They're such happy volunteers that I don't see how you can prevent Lantana drupes from sprouting. Seedlings can always be transplanted to other, less colorful corners of the yard, but never near walkways as they do have that slight prickly/thorny habit that can scratch the unwary. I've successfully moved a 3 foot tall blooming plant in July; yes, it wilted something awful, but I kept it watered well and within 4 weeks it was blooming again. Lantana is one tough cookie.

I'm not in Oklahoma, but I'm close. I live in Southcentral Kansas (zone 6b). I am currently growing Ham 'n Eggs lantanas as a perennial on the south side of my house where it comes abck each Spring. My lantanas attract several types of butterflies, especially Skippers, which I see every day throughout the day. I also have lots of spiders on my lantanas, which are after the butterflies.
I'm probably going to replace all of my Ham 'n Egg lantanas with Miss Huff lantanas, so I don't have to keep dead heading in order to encourage continued flower production.

I've loved Lantana since I was a little kid and our neighbor lady had some. I loved how the little flowers were tiny squares, and I thought they looked like the colors of fruit loops cereal, and I think I called them the fruit loops flowers.
This year I've really noticed how well they have handled the drought. I want several of the lavendar ones for my north bed. I am SO annoyed with myself for not buying the deep raspberry ones at Lowe's the other day. It was just so hot and dry that planting anything seemed pointless.

I also want the solid white, and the buttery yellow without the orange undertones.

I am so glad to see this thread on lantanas.
I fell in love with them when even my mom couldnt kill them. I will have to remember to ignore it and not overtend it.I have so much room now to plant things that I definately will take cuttings when I get back to Denton. Should I overwinter the cuttings under grow lights in the house? I am going to try to do figs this way.
Kim

After the drought last year and seeing how the lantana sailed through it, I added more this year. I have one plant that returned this year. I'm not sure if it is Miss Huff (?), but it was in an exposed area. I was thrilled it survived. I added more this year. In that same area I also added some artemesia and more asclepias. They are all surviving and looking pretty good.