There's an interesting article in today's Ft. Worth Star-Telegram that discusses drought-tough plants and the need for Texas gardeners to think about water requirements more than ever before. It specifically lists "Lantana urticoides (not camara)."
We lost a lot of established lantana in last winter's freeze and in the spring just bought at Home Depot and Lowe's to replace it. So now I have no idea which lantana we have but it has done very well this summer.
Please tell me what are the differences between "Lantana urticoides" and "Lantana camara" and if there's any way to tell which it is from looking at the plant.
Thanks,
Glenna
Lantana question
Lantana urticoides: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=LAUR2
Lantana Camara: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/578/
Hopefully this will help you get started.
Lantana urticoides is orange and yellow with no hint of pink, and the florets are large, compared to those of camara.
Also it has a spreading or sprawling habit, rather than an upright habit ad camara does.
I hope that helps.
So, urticoides is the same as horrida? I have a large pink/yellow Lantana and 2 large orange/yellow Lantanas. They both bloom beautifully and the butterflies/bees love them. But the pink/yellow does not go to berry when the blooms are done. The orange/yellow goes to berry and the Mockingbirds/Robins love it. Both survive the freezes and droughts very well in this area.
pink/yellow = Camara
orange/yellow = Urticoides/Horrida
Is this correct?
Carla
Yes,orange yellow is the native, they changed the name form Horrida to Urticoides, they do things like that once in a while.
Josephine.
I was confused as to why the article said "not camara" and I'm assuming now that was because the newspaper article was written by the "Water Steward" of "Native Plant Society of Texas." This summer I had just about every color lantana, including purple, so I guess most, if not all, of what I bought at HD/Lowe's were camara. "Dallas Red" did especially well. But even though not actually native, they all thrived in the heat/drought and now we'll see how well they survive the winter.
Glenna
Yes, all lantanas do very well in Texas, and they are winter hardy.
The pictures in plantfiles can be very confusing because they are not juried to confirm they are that species. Once the picture is posted there, only the person that it belongs to can request it be removed. Really flustrating. I have been told my picture was of a different species once and I happily requested it be put in the right place. But so many people are no longer active on DG and also few people want to take the time to tell them the correct species.
Yeah I hate that too. I have found so many things listed several times. That is frustrating also. I have a person wanting Sweet gum trees but I don't have any idea which one it is. I can't remember if mine turns red in the fall. Any ideas on how I tell?
I really want some Dallas Red Lantana. My truck blew the head gasket so probably won't be any time soon :(
No way to tell until it turns color then you know from then on.
Not all lantanas are winter hardy, at least not in zone 7. The hybrids don't survive for me. I have a trailing lavender one, but I think its coming back from seed, not the root. I planted a Dallas red on the south side of the house, up close. Hope it survives, its been beautiful. But the one I really want to survive this winter is called Pink Bandana. It's a hybrid, though, so I may be disappointed.
Horrida/Urticoides, Camara, and Trailing Lantana all do very well in northeast Texas. I've had no luck at all with the hybrids. I would love to have Dallas Red but it just doesn't survive the winter here, and I have little space in my flowerbeds now for annuals.
Carla
Which Lantana is this one?
Looks like Camara.
Carla
Well, I was wrong. My Lantana Camara (pink/yellow) does set berries. It just doesn't set nearly as many berries as the Lantana Horrida/Urticoides. The Camara bloomed pale pink and yellow all summer, but this last round of blooms that just opened are dark pink and dark yellow, quite stunning.
Carla