By Cindy Anderson
Texas lantana is more than just a pretty flower. It is a low-spreading, multi-branched shrub that can get as large as 3 to 6 feet tall and 4 to 5 feet wide. Easy going and non-finicky, it can be found in almost any habitat the Hill Country offers, including poor soil and even salty soil. Originally it was named Lantana horrida for its strong-smelling leaves, which can bother those with a sensitive sense of smell. Later it was renamed Lantana urticoides, as its itchy/scratchy leaf resembles nettles, which are in the Urtica family. Its new name, urticoides, means “like a nettle”. Veteran gardeners know to wear long sleeves and gloves when working with or near this plant.
While it can come up anywhere (birds eat the seeds and recycle them along the way), lantana should be planted in full sun or mostly sun for the best blooms – at least six hours or more of direct, bright sunshine each day. It can tolerate a little shade in the afternoon, but may not flower profusely in too much shade.
Lantana is a deciduous perennial, dropping all leaves in the winter that will re-emerge in spring. Most gardeners will cut back the stiff gray branches in winter to control the plant’s size and shape or to tidy up the garden – but the stems can also be left alone to re-leaf in late spring. Lantana is one of the last plants to come back in the spring. It is often thought dead and mistakenly dug up by gardeners impatient for spring.
The Texas lantana is sometimes called “Calico Bush” for the patchwork colors in the flower clusters that change from yellow to orange to red as they age.
BUT – PLEASE DON’T PLANT THE PINK AND YELLOW LANTANA
There is a much less desirable non-native pink and yellow version (called Tropical Lantana) which is named Lantana camara. It is native to the West Indies, Columbia, and Venezuela, and is now classified as Invasive by the Texas Invasive Species Institute. It has spread to thirteen states in the U.S., and has become extremely problematic in several of these states. The pink and yellow version is best avoided or replaced with Texas lantana.
Lantana camara easily invades disturbed ecosystems and spreads in dense thickets. It can quickly dominate the understory in forests and suppress the growth of native plants, turning the forest communities into shrub-lands. In addition to forests, Lantana camara can also become the dominant understory shrub in orchards and plantations. It has become a serious economic pest in the citrus groves of Florida because it reduces vigor and productivity of the crops. The leaves and unripened fruit are poisonous. It can cause liver failure or even death in livestock animals such as cattle, sheep, goats or horses, and also in wild animals. The unripe fruit is quite dangerous to children and pets (I had to remove it from my back yard years ago because one of my small dogs would eat the leaves and become quite ill.)
BUT THE ORANGE “TEXAS LANTANA” IS BULLET-PROOF!
The true Texas lantana (Lantana urticoides) is VERY drought- and heat-tolerant once established, often called “bullet proof.” It actually thrives in the full summer sun and heat, requiring little water after its first year. It will bloom continually until fall, and the orange flowers are very attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds. Birds eat the black berries (seeds) which are poisonous to humans. Bees use the nectar in honey production. The verbena-like tube flowers are an excellent food source for many nectaring butterflies.
Because of a great deal of cross-breeding and experimentation, there are many new colors and forms of lantana available in today’s marketplace. A line of sterile lantanas has been bred to cut down on the spread of seeds that have become invasive. This cross-breeding makes for great variety, but also difficulty in determining the par
ent stock and lineage.
One good example is the cultivar “New Gold.” While it is grown and sold in Texas for its attractive golden-yellow blooms and drought tolerance, it is not considered a native plant.
The only native Texas lantana is the orange Lantana urticoides, which has different characteristics and a narrow native distribution within Texas. Many of the named varieties for sale in nurseries today are far removed from the native Texas lantana, yet may still be sold under that name.
To be sure you get the real Texas native lantana, look for the “NICE Plant of the Season” sign stake at the following high quality nurseries:
WHERE TO FIND IT
Our local N.I.C.E. nurseries have happily agreed to stock up on our Plant of the Season in order to have it available to the public. These independent nurseries carry only the best plants for our area, as well as high-quality soil amendments and gardening supplies.
Look for the “N.I.C.E. Plant of the Season” sign stake at these nurseries and growers in Fredericksburg, Medina, Kerrville, and Comfort:
∙ Friendly Natives, 1107 N. Llano Street, Fredericksburg, 830-997-6288
∙ Medina Garden Nursery, 13417 Tx. Highway 16, Medina, 830-589-2771
∙ Natives of Texas, 4256 Medina Highway, Kerrville, 830-896-2169
∙ Plant Haus 2, 604 Jefferson Street, Kerrville, 830-792-4444
∙ The Gardens at The Ridge, 13439 S. Ranch Road 783 (Harper Rd.), Kerrville, 830-896-0430 ∙
The Garden Haus, 109 FM 473, Comfort, 830-995-5610
Cindy Anderson is a member of the Native Plant Society of Texas (Kerrville Chapter) and the Hill Country Master Gardeners. An enthusiastic (though often frustrated) gardener, she has learned first-hand the value of native plants, and gladly shares reviews of her favorites in this quarterly seasonal column.
