I have decided to join the blogging craze. I am looking forward to taking a moment to find out a little more about the plants I have been photographing. I hope to explore all aspects of plants, flowers, trees and other garden related topics. Sorry about having to watermark the photos but there are a lot of people using them without permission.
In keeping with the random theme that developed here this
post deals with another tough and not thirsty annual flower. Lantana is a
dependable plant that is native to the tropical areas of Africa and the
Americas. It has spread as an introduced species in many other areas and is
considered a weed in some places. We grow it here as a seasonal plant and have
never had any trouble with it seeding. Lantana has many uses including display
plantings, containers and butterfly gardens.
This cultivar exhibits a common trait among Lantanas as the
flowers change color as they age leading to a multicolored display on the same
plant. This cultivar is also said to have color variations due to the amount of
heat the garden gets. They like to grow in full sun and don’t need much water.
Some Lantana I have grown have been completely wilted and after application of
some water have returned to form barely missing a beat. They don’t need much
attention but I think they taller varieties benefit from a quick snipping the
long branch ends to promote bushiness. The metallic berries are said to be poisonous
but there is some debate about that. The birds seem to relish them.
This post was from yesterday
only with everything going on I forgot to post it. We are buying a lot of
Lantana this year since it seems so durable. It can grow in the lightest water
areas of the garden. Puckering up and losing a few leaves is usually what
happens when it dries out but Lantana can quickly snap back to life if watered
in time. Other than it’s smell it is plant that quickly forms a mat of color
and blooms all season. This is the third time white Lantana has been featured
here but the first time for this cultivar. It is really white when viewed from
a distance and the little yellow centers become more apparent on closer
viewing.
The gig went well yesterday.
We got told to turn it down a few times but that's rock n’ roll. Our next show
is July 13th, which is a Friday night. We are taking a couple of
weeks off from practicing since the bass player needs knee surgery.
Usually Sunday’s post has a
bonus snapshot so here it is for Monday instead.
Not too long ago ‘Lucky Flame Red’ Lantana was featured here. This is another member of the Lucky series and it has many of the same attributes as its red cousin. ‘Lucky White’ is a compact and well branched cultivar of Lantana that is equally at home in containers and window boxes as it is as a bedding plant. My personal preference is the solid colored Lantanas like this one even though it has a touch of yellow in the centers.
I am glad it is Friday even though it is going to be a busy weekend. I have to get my shopping done. We got a couple of cameras for family members and that was easy. I seem to be the default camera person around here. “What kind of camera should I get?” is often the question asked of me. My answer is usually “the best you can afford right now.” Just about always I do recommend a Nikon.
Lantana flowers have been featured on this blog many times before, which is testament to its free flowering and photogenic qualities. Here in the north there are no concerns about it becoming invasive because the winter kills it off every year. Even in gardens where there have been hundreds of them planted year after year I have never seen a seedling.
Lantana is a tough plant that needs little in the way of water and grooming. The leaves are considered to be allergenic but I have never gotten a rash from handling them. Using gloves to handle the plants is advisable. The leaves and berries are considered toxic but again I have caught my dog nibbling on the leaves with no ill effects.
My experience is they do not do well in the house over the winter. It is just a lack of vigor and they can be prone to insect problems, which doesn’t seem to happen outdoors.
Here is an annual that combines two of my favorite things. A free flowering habit and great looking foliage. Lantana seems to be making it on to this blog a lot lately and that is mainly since it has looked so good this year (most other years too). A heat and drought tolerant annual that keeps going until the hard frosts put it away. It does make into the conservatory for the winter sometimes and it kind of struggles to make through under glass but come spring it leaps back to life and looks great in no time.
Ugh, more rain here again. It’s making it almost impossible to get things done outside. We have already had 5.28 inches for the month and the tail of the remnants of tropical storm Lee still has to drag over us.
The first fall bulb catalog made it to our door yesterday. I need 500 Daffodils for the new area we are trying to complete. I don’t like the company but will use the catalog pictures as a reference guide with the client. Being able to add bulbs is one of the joys of making a new garden in the fall.
This is the first year we are growing Tangerine Lantana and it has done well. Despite our relatively cool summer and wet August the Lantanas have been chugging along. My personal preference for Lantana is to grow the solid color types. We have an all white, all yellow, mostly red and the Tangerine, which is mostly orange. The solid colors are more pleasing to me but the growth rate and flowering seem about the same. It is a pleasant annual to have in the garden but be aware that the leaves are poisonous but the berries provide a nice food source for the birds.
Last night the legendary Texas band ZZ Top rolled into our little city. Even with the threat of rain we decided to go. They played a great show and I don’t think I have heard guitar playing like that for a long time. The seemingly effortless style of the band was amazing. You could tell they have been together for a long time (40 years and over 50 million albums sold). The only thing that was a little disappointing that some of the legendary guitar collection seemed to have been left at home. They did play the white furry ones and a sunburst Les Paul. It wasn’t the fabled ’59 Sunburst ‘Pearly Gates’ but still sounded great. I don’t think ‘Pearly Gates‘ goes on the road anymore. I think the main guitar he played was a Gretsch G6199 "Billy-Bo" Jupiter Thunderbird replica. It had a beautiful design on it. Fitting I guess for a Sharp Dressed Man.
As anyone who reads this blog knows I really like the pop star/actress Selena Gomez (1.45 million albums sold). It was a pleasure to see her in concert last Saturday night and meet her earlier in her tour. The juxtaposition between seeing Selena and ZZ Top in 5 days was pretty amazing. A little known fact about me (well not anymore I guess) is that I like Pop music and while I don’t know exactly what songs are on the charts at any given time I do probably have some knowledge of the songs. Selena’s concert was great. She really worked hard on putting on the best show she could and it worked. She is working with UNICEF (she is the youngest UNICEF Ambassador ever) and the George Harrison fund to look back on the 40th Anniversary of the Concert for Bangladesh. There was a short video clip of Harrison, Dylan, Billy Preston, Leon Russell and Eric Clapton playing and talking. The last thing I expected to see at the pop concert. It was awesome and Selena is working with these people. Here is the video:
On the other hand you have ZZ Top. Just a "That Little Ol' Band from Texas" as they like to be known. To me Billy F. Gibbons is one of the best rock and roll guitarists America has ever produced. He went through several music styles with a smoothness that was stupendous. The look and feel of the ZZ Top concert was very slick with a minimum of equipment and tricks. I really wanted to support our local venue for having such a big rock and roll concert. The place was mobbed and I haven’t ever seen it that crowded (been to about 20 shows up there).
White Lantana Lantana camara ‘Bandana White’ (lan-TAN-a) (kuh-MAR-uh)
It hasn’t really been Lantana weather (hot and dry) around here this season. We are again waking up to a murky day with the threat of showers and thunderstorms. There has been some of the heaviest rain I have seen here in the last couple of days. Luckily it has only been fairly brief in duration or there would have been more flooding but even with the briefness I did see some cars up to their doors with water and stalled out in low lying parts of our little city. On Thursday I was driving on the Merritt Parkway , which can be a challenge without tropical type downpours, when one of the big storms hit. I found myself saying once again, “Thank goodness I m in a Jeep.” Traffic slowed down to bout 10 MPH from the normal 70 or so.
Lantana is an annual that I usually select for hot, dry and exposed places. It needs some water to get established but later can get by with very little. I like that if it gets too dry it tends to crinkle up but will come back to life when rehydrated. This white one is nice. When it’s in a group that tiny bit of yellow really adds to the overall look.
I have to work in Manhattan today. There are a few problems with the courtyard gardens I have been supervising. Nothing major but like any garden problem they need to be addressed before things get out of hand. Of course it will be an excuse to walk around with the camera.
At the nurseries yesterday I snapped a few pictures and I noticed later reviewing the photos that were a lot of yellow flowers. This Osteospermum was an odd color. Since there was a whole bench of them it almost looked like a brown flower. Is that even a flower color? Even with the bit of an odd color they looked nice all blooming together and this genus usually always appears graceful. They didn’t make it into the truck has I have had some hot weather problems with them.
This unknown rose was a beautiful color yellow. Really rich. Too bad it was in the shade a little when photographed. This flower was actually on a rose tree, which seems to be making a come back after vanishing from the wholesale trade around here for a few years. It was too expensive so that stayed at the nursery too.
Lantana Lantana camara ‘Chapel Hill Yellow’ (lan-TAN-a) (kuh-MAR-uh)
This is actually a plant that we bought yesterday. It was still inside the large greenhouse and was shining among the sea of green from the other plants. It is a cross between Miss Huff and New Gold. The Monrovia site said that it is hardy to 0 deg. F when established but I don’t believe it. Most other Lantanas are rated much warmer. I like growing Lantana because it doesn’t need much care (in water), comes in a nice range of colors and the animals don’t really like to eat it. If the growing conditions are right it can spread nicely over rough areas.
See more spring flowers from all over the world at Today’s Flowers .
Lantana Trees Lantana camara (lan-TAN-a) (kuh-MAR-uh) Synonyms: Shrub Verbena
Lantana can stir up some heat as you discuss it with other gardeners. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of middle ground. Personally, Lantana is always a good performer in our gardens and it doesn’t seem to be as water hungry or afraid of the hot summer temperatures as most of the other annuals. Of course we don’t have to deal with the seeding and wild varieties that make this an invasive plant. To some people this plant is an unwelcome scourge.
Even if you don’t like Lantana you would probably find these trees impressive. Not sure how old they are but they imparted kind of a regal and ancient feeling. It was over a 100 degrees F when these photos were taken at Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay, New York. The Lantana wasn’t even flinching but some of the other plants were showing some strain of the heat. I am not sure which variety this is but I like the bold colors as opposed to some Lantanas that have kind of washed out pastel type colors.
We often use Lantana in containers and occasionally over winter it in the greenhouse. It does seem to get a little susceptible to white flies but other than it does pretty well. There are getting to be some nice colored cultivars now and some of them seem to be a little smaller growing.
My computer is going in for an upgrade and they couldn’t tell me how long it would take so I maybe off the air here for a while.
I have this growing in a big container. I am not sure what cultivar it is and when I went to look it up I found out there are lots of different ones. There seems to be several species available to gardeners also. This one is really a pretty flower that changes color with age. It also stays compact which is a nice feature. Lantana isn’t hardy around here and it seems to winter over in the glass house okay. Recently I have been chucking it in the spring and getting new plants for bedding.
Lantana is easy to grow and tolerates dry and hot conditions. It is not fussy about the soil either. The flowers are orange, yellow and red. The umbels (flowers) on this particular Lantana are made up of individual yellow, orange and red flowers giving a nice bi-color feel. While photographing a Passion Flower vine, I saw the buds on the Lantana and noticed the interesting shape they had.
