Trailing Lantana
1 entry found.
Trailing Lantana
Common Name: Lantana, Trailing Lantana
Botanical Name: Lantana montevidensis (lan-TAN-a mon-te-vi-DEN-sis)
Decorative Life: Weeks depending on use, but low light will result in foliage, not flowers.
Post Harvest Care:
- Keep in high enough light such that flowering can persist.
- White fly can be a major problem. They mostly appear on the underside of leaves.
Family Roots:
- Member of the Verbenaceae (vervain family).
- Native to South America, in particular, Uruguay.
- Relatives include verbena, lemon verbena and clerodendrum.
Personality:
- Plant is classed as a dicotyledon, leaves not parallel veined.
- Flowers are small, in terminal rounded clusters up to 2 inches wide.
- Leaves are about 1 inch long, coarsely toothed, stems trailing, fragrant. Often used in hanging baskets.
- Flowers are not fragrant, only the foliage.
Availability: Year-round but mostly in summer.
Flower Color: Pink, rose, lilac but other species have yellow, white, blue.
Tidbits:
- The specific epithet name "montevidensis" means of Montevideo, Uruguay, from which it came.
- Lantana, an old name that also applied to the genus Viburnum. Most foliage is very fragrant when touched.
- Will generally do well in light levels at least bright enough to read a newspaper in comfort but more light would be better. Mostly used in hanging baskets. Some favorite cultivars and their respective flower colors include 'Patriot Desert Sunset' (yellow, gold, peach, pink).