Hope someone can help. Saw Lantana's at nursery in standard form. Have wanted them for years but would like them at a better price. $70 may actually be reasonable? but I need six. Only problem is I can't find any others to compare them to! Have also thought about growing them myself but am unsure as to which varieties lend themselves to training in standard form. Anyone have experience growing or buying these?
Need Help to Find/grow Lantana Standards
I could be wrong, but my guess is that they are grafted onto rootstock from something else, Lantana don't normally get that tall so I would think it would take absolutely forever (if it's even possible) to get it to the 5-6' tall standards that I've seen at garden centers. I have no idea what they would graft it onto though. All the standards I've seen are cultivars of L. camara, I've never seen standards of L. montevidensis. Doesn't mean it's not possible to do it with those too, but I've never seen any.
There are some varieties that grow to 5-6'. They are usually hardier than some of the other upright lantanas. By standard form-do you mean an upright cultivar? Tangerine is very hardy (at least in this zone it comes back every year) and will grow to those heights. It is an orange with some pink in it. I also saw a hardy pink growing in a friends yard that was growing that large.
Most of the other uprights grow to about 4' or so, depending on the amt of sun, fert and water they receive. I guess you could train a true trailing lantana (L. montevidensis) to grow up some form, but I have only seen them grow about 3', and they only come in white and lavendar in color.
I don't think I have a grip on what standard form means....maybe I need more coffee! lol
Here's a pic of one:
http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/images/79380a.jpg
This one's actually shorter than the ones I've seen at nurseries here so it could have been an actual Lantana that was trained. The ones I've seen at nurseries are about twice as tall as this one appears to be and I think would take forever to get the plant to be that tall and trained into a tree form, that's why my theory was that they may graft a Lantana plant onto a different base to get that look a lot more quickly.
I had heard of standard lantanas but have never seen one in real life. I am a standard fanatic and try to shape anything I can in this style. I currently have a shrub lantana, Dallas Red, trying to train it as a standard. But not very pretty as the "trunk" is crooked, not nice and straight as you see in pictures. Before I knew the difference, I tried training a trailing lantana into a standard and that didn't work out. So whatever you do, make sure the name doesn't have the word "trailing" as it won't be suitable for growing as a tree.
Would love to know what material they use to graft these as shown in Ecrane's pic.
Just to be clear--it's only a theory of mine that they graft, I'm not actually sure of that. I can't think of what they would graft it onto, but I also can't think of how they could get it trained into a standard very quickly without grafting!
lol thanks ecrane-I thought it was that-but it was so early in the am for me, I couldn't get my mind to type the words. I was going to say the "poodle" look. That one looks like Radiation.
Sometimes things happen by accident. I forgot a lantana in my garden and all sorts of things grew around it. This spring when I was cleaning up some of those other plants I noticed a lantana blooming at around 5'. It is one of the pink/yellow ones and it was reaching for the sun. I was able to trim off a few stray branches and it clearly has trained itself into a standard! It is still mixed up with some gingers and hydrangeas but as soon as I get a minute I plan on transplanting it into a container. With a bit more shaping I think I will have one of those $70.00 plants. :-))))
oh they are definitely grafted, but to what? One of our relative's kids worked shortly at a nursery and she said they sold grafted lantana. However, she wasn't particularly interested in standards or lantana, so she never asked and never knew what was involved.
If nobody knows, then maybe someone can volunteer to buy one of the $70 ones, chop it off below the graft, and see what grows! LOL
lol
After you LOL
The standard I saw looked like the picture ecrane showed. I don't remember seeing a graft site but I'll look when I go back. If it is grafted, would it make sense that the roots/stem would be a more upright strong growing lantana and the top a more compact tight growing lantana?....Is this similiar to how they make rose in the standard form?
Thanks everyone for the input! Looks like I may be doing some experiments LOL
Yes, I would imagine it is the same technique as for standard roses. My BIG BIG question is what stock they use for the trunk on the lantana.
And I think the top could be either a compact lantana or even a trailing one, as you can give those a haircut anytime for a compact/clean look.
Lantana standards-The are not grafted.
They are regular lantana tied to a stake & pruned. Monrovia used to carry them, but, not many buyers. On the wholesale market they cost $35-40. Takes about 2 years to get them ready for sale, very labor intensive=expensive. The second you take the stake out the plant will fall over, probably breaking the 'trunk'. The main reasons they make them into standards it 1) for the lollipop look & 2)The bloom is more numerous, growth less 'weedy'. You would need to rub off any sprouts on the trunk.
I think they are very attractive, but, around here, the next him or hurricane will take it and move it to your neighbors yard, without the roots. Not a plant for high wind areas.
If I were growing one I would use heavy gauge rebar as a stake. If you bend the rebar into a coil at the bottom and place the coiled end deep in the container (or ground) it should resist wind.
Finally got a shot of my self made Lantana standard. I said earlier it was around 5' but I discovered just now it is really closer to 7'. It was buried under hydrangeas, oleanders, several gingers and a lot of weeds.
Since Dale says it will blow over in a wind, which we have a lot of here, I think I will just leave it where it is but trim up the crown a bit. I think it will be interesting to see a Lantana dripping over the other shrubs.
This message was edited Apr 24, 2007 6:19 PM
This is the crown, it needs a lot of pinching to make it fuller like the one in Dale's photo.
oh wow, that is pretty, I've never thought of doing that to the lantanas before. Although the old garden with those, are completely covered in them, it would be neat to trim them up like that so that one could walk through the path near them.
I had thought that training Lantana to a fence might work, they are easy from seed. Keeping the trunks clear of vegetation and then nipping the tops with the hedge trimmer. Your could mix the colors for that fruit salad look. I have seen them turned into hedges. This would not work in most of the US, since they freeze back to ground in most places.
I wonder what you could do with one if you trained it up wires against a wall? It is a very flexible plant when the foliage is young. On a south facing wall you could probably get one to be a woody perennial in zone 9, maybe.
Cool bromeliadsDale.
wow, never seen broms that big. must be that FL weather.
Dale, as to trailing up a wall, I don't think it would work because lantana, even the trailing varieties, want to grow OUT as opposed to up.
Love that photo Dale ... is that Tampa Bay, or possibly Boca Ciega Bay, Sarasota Bay or where? Oh, very nice Brom's in the photo too!
If you could tie Lantana and have it espaliered up the side of a wall, that would be lovely! Lantana as a Standard I wouldn't mind, but it kinda goes wild here. We have dug up so much of that stuff from our backyard! My next door neighbors love it, so they have it everywhere now .... I keep cutting it on my side of the fence when it grows through. It will take over if you let it. Makes a pretty hedge, but if if birds drop the seeds, you have to get the little seedlings up quickly or you will have it everywhere! And, believe me once they get established it's a chore digging them up ... strong roots!
The fact that mine grew to 7' attests to their strong roots. I don't think I could get that sucker out if I wanted to. LOL
Ard, make it standard of it! make a standard of it.
Plantlady, must be your FL weather. I don't get suckers or seedlings. But I guess if I do, they get zapped by winter. Mine do get big and I trim at least once in the season, should be be planted in a place where they swallow something.
I love lantanas. have a small collection.
We do ocassionally have hard freezes down here in this part of Florida, but haven't had one in 7 or 8 years! When they do get frozen back, they usually come back from the roots in Spring! Here's a pic of some of the Orange Lantana growing around an Oak Tree in my next door neighbor's yard:
Voss, head back up to some earlier posts in this thread. I posted a couple of pictures of one that "standardized" itself. Having been buried in other shrubbery it grew up, up and up all by itself as it searched for sun. 7' now.
yah, I went blonde for a moment. I did see that. I wonder if the trunks thicken up. Mine (that is my attempt at) has a little trunk also, the size if a child's index finger.
LOL, I used to be blond and I still act like it!
I don't know about the trunks but we will find out. I had hung pine boughs over other shrubs to hold them out of the way so I could get that picture. I just went out this morning and trimmed the blooming branches and removed the pine boughs so the other shrubs could bounce back. We'll see what happens.
They will get a thicker trunk, a nursery here has some that they keep outside during the summer. The trunks are several inches across. One of the BIGGEST problems with lantana standards is that the wood is really, really brittle, and the trunk will snap with a lot less pressure than you would think.
Unfortunately, I know this from personal experience. I had a beautiful lantana standard that I had trained from a baby plant. It had pale pink flowers without even a hint of yellow, and bloomed all of the time. It was about seven feet tall, and the ball on the top was three feet across. After one of our summer storms, the whole top broke off, and I was left with a bare stick about four feet tall!!! I was just sick! I was also stupid, because I was ticked off, and didn't bring it inside for the winter that year. I should have retrained it to be shorter, but I was so disgusted that I didn't even grow any lantana for several years after that.
Oh that is too bad, Ronna.
I have a tall standard that is pretty easy. Every spring I trim the roots off by half and repot it in the same pot. This last year I thought it was dead from our 2 weeks of freezes but it has come back. I have 2 smaller ones too.
Here is one I passed last November in Berkeley that was just amazing.
AGHHHHH, you have posted that picture before Kell and every time I see it I am so bummed. It seems that I will just have to move to CA to get lush plants like that.
Who would have thought the Lantana, a native southeastern *weed* would love those cool nights so much.
Kell, I had not seen that photo, wow.
Berekeley has the most amazing plants (and nurseries). Going up to the garden in Strawberry Canyon, trying to take a different route each time, was always interesting. I wish I had taken more photos when I lived in SF.
I love Berkeley gardens too Dale. They have such personality!!
I went to Longs Drugstore yesterday and there they had a standard, actually 2. Too bad they are so big to ship.
Alice, I love lantana in that they do add a big splash of color all summer! So where you are they are more of a weed?
I bet their price was pretty good too! I need to get out there one of these days--it's been quite a while since I went.
Well, not really weeds but they are terribly overused here and they do spread easily when the birds drop the seeds wherever. Now if those of us on the east coast could grow them like that orange one you showed I think I would feel differently.
The butterflies love them and they are drought tolerant so that does make them a good choice for color when everything else is dried up. Deer hate them because (I'm told) they taste as bad as they smell. I think I am talking myself into buying more lantana, what's with that??????.
the lantana camara (sp?) which is the pink and yellow, I think is considered a weed in some parts of texas. The yellow is not a weed, but definitely overused in my area.
Having said that, I love Lantana for its ever-blooming quality. I have a small collection.
Kell, I love that standard. I said I'm trying to shape my own with a Dallas Red lantana, but trunk is all wonky-looking, not a lollipop at all!
I love the purple the best..it sort of crawls around on the ground...
the others get really bushy, they stink too, but the butterflys love them..
I took some of our wild variety up to miss and they grow big there too but no one prunes them to look like the orange one in this forum. I rooted some pink my neighbor has and it rooted. They have theirs like a hedge too. grows about 6 ft. I had some lavender the type that crawls and pulled it all up a week ago because it was trying to take over the daylilies. it has a strong smell also. The wild dont smell unless you pinch or stamp on it ha. Fran