Lantana

I have a question about Lantana. I was reading an older post about it being a great flower for BF's, hummers, etc. I love Lantana, I have a white one that is three years old, I just bought two more this year the pink and red. My question or problem is I never seem to see anything attracted to it but me. I did see a couple of bees flying around yesterday but have never seen a butterfly, hummingbird on these plants. Is it just some parts of they country they like the stuff or are my plants just cursed? Any info about this would be appreciated. I am not realy asking for advice I guess, just some reassurance that I did not make a mistake buying these in hopes of getting BF's.

Thanks everyone.

Leslie

Butterflies out here are attracted to the native lantana horrida - it has yellow and orange flowers. I believe lantana camera (pink and yellow blooms?) is also a favorite.

Am thinking they will hone on the red soon enough. For some odd reason bees tend to go for yellow colors, hummingbirds for red and violet and well, butterflies...there's no telling!!!

~ Cat

Thanks Cat. I will be looking on the red plant. It is a pretty deep red, very eyecatching. I guess there are no takers for the white, huh? It is a beautiful plant but I notice it is not blooming very much.

Thanks again.

Leslie

Leslie - Seems I read somewhere that the white blooming lantana is a hybrid. If that is true, I have heard than many hybrid plants don't produce much nectar like the original plants. I have noticed that the butterflies love my yellow/orange/reddish blooming lantana. But they don't pay much attention to my solid yellow blooming lantana. I am thinking the yellow is a hybrid, too. Perhaps that is why the butterflies aren't interested in your white lantana. I'd just enjoy the plant for it's beauty. Not all the plants in my garden beds are used by butterflies/hummers/bees. Some are plants and flowers I just happen to like. Some of the plants are for ME to enjoy! :-) :-)

Agree with Becky, the solid yellow and the red/yellow/orange get lots of BF attention.

Thanks Becky and Karen. I do have the red/yellow/orange Lantana so I will just hope that gets some attention. The white one is a beauty actually. I have had it for three years so it is getting pretty big and I never used to like white flowers at all but now I find I am liking them more and more.

Thanks for the info ladies.

Leslie

Leslie,
Here's the kind that grows wild in FL and attracts many butterflies. This pic was in a preserve I like to hike in. That day I saw the following butterflies on the lantana: Zebra Swallowtail (in photo), Zebra Longwing, Gulf Fritillary, Black Swallowtail, White M Hairstreak, and Palamedes Swallowtail.
Melanie

That is beautiful Melanie. I have one similar to that color. Just planted it so it needs to grow a bit but hopefull it will attract even a few of the butterflies you mentioned. Thanks for sharing.

Leslie

At least you shouldn't have to wait long; lantana grows at a rapid pace. I had one out by our fence growing wild and my brother mowed it down. It was back within weeks and in a few months was a big shrub. I finally pulled it because it can be a little invasive and crazy down here. I think because it flowers nearly all the time it's a good, reliable source of food for the butterflies. In the preserve where I was, not too much else was blooming; at least, not enough to attract a lot of butterflies. So they didn't have too many choices.

Melanie,

We bought some Lantana for my brother-in-law's mother because she has one little area that she wanted flowers for and I love the stuff so I bought it for her. She asked if it was a weed because she had three other plants of it in her backyard that she swears she never planted and had never come up until this year. LOL. We have had a lot of rain this year but I don't know why it would just come up. Maybe it had been there and she did not notice it. Anyway she said she was planning on mowing it down but wouldn't since it was not a weed. Go figure, her's grows wild and I have to buy mine and she just lives down the street from me, not in another state or anything.

Leslie

I don't find a lot of butterflies visiting the Lantana till later summer & early fall in this area. I also have found no interest in white blooms during daytime but at dusk and after dark, the moths and night pollinaters enjoy the light and white blooms. Don't have a white Lantana but it would make sense that they aren't attracted to a hybrid... no need to pollinate it. Lantana will set seeds and the birds may have planted the other "weeds" ~ lol.


This message was edited Jul 6, 2007 7:15 AM

Leslie - I put in a bird and a squirrel feeder last year. I am getting lots of daily visitors who also use my yard as a bathroom. I have been finding ALL kinds of plants coming up in my yard that were never there before and I've lived in this house 16 years! So it's probably that my visitors are eating seeds elsewhere and "planting" them in my yard! lol

It's also possible that the moths may find your Lantana attractive. I think podster may be right! :-)

This message was edited Jul 6, 2007 10:41 PM

If it weren't for the birds pooping in my yard, I wouldn't have any beautyberries! Gotta love how nature works. As for color, right now the swallowtails like the blue plumbago, and the duskywings are all on the blanket flowers (red and yellow). The only really white flower I have is a datura, and those things are so big they could swallow a butterfly.

Mellielong, I am not growing the Datura this year but when I have at dusk, we would sit and watch the blooms unfurl. In a short time, along would come a hummingbird moth. They really seemed to love those blooms. So neat to watch! pod

You are lucky to get your lantanas to grow so freely. I think I have purchased 5 so far this year and most have died off (why, I don't know--humidity, maybe?).

Anyway, planted a new red and yellow one this week and a swallowtail can't get enough of it. I am so pleased! I hope some of the other lantanas can bounce back and make a show in August when the monarchs show up...

Not much BF interest in my white Phlox Davidii, although I did have a swallowtail nectaring on white impatiens, of all things...No interest in white leucanthemum (daisies) so far this summer. Did see one nectaring on white 'obedience'.

Phew ~ can't be the humidity. We frequently enjoy 100% humidity and the Lantana thrive in it. I don't... : )

I had not thought about the bird poop bringing new flowers to a yard. Thanks for the cool knowledge. I bet that is how she got the "free" Lantana. I also guess I need to check out my white Lantana after dark. It is in the front yard and we stay more in the back. And Melanie I saw some Plumbago at Home Depot today, thought it was beautiful and almost bought it. Now I wish I had.

Well I tell ya I feed a bunch of birds every day and the squirrels feel free to butt in anytime they want to, not that I mind. I have found some really thick looking grass underneath the feeders. I wish my yard looked like that. Maybe I will get lucky and get some really good plant life out of feeding these animals.

Leslie

I have found the coolest fragrant wildflower under a tree limb in town. I am waiting to harvest seed. It is not a common wildflower in this area and I can thank a bird for it I am sure! LOL

Centaurea ~ basket flower

Beautiful Podster. Hope you get some seed. That would make a great addition to any garden. I always did have a fondness for birds. lol

Leslie

I have power line supports that come down right in the middle of my bromeliad garden. It used to be a bunch of invasives with skunk vine growing up the support cables (I'm sure the electric company loves that I removed it and did their job for them). The birds like to sit up there and so I get whatever falls down. I just dig up the beautyberries and move them to wherever I want them.

I'll have to watch the daturas in the evening once it cools down and the mosquitos start slacking off.

Leslie, HD here always has plumbagos. Always! They're the host plant for the Cassius Blue, and so you get a lot of those in them too. They're small, but they fly around like crazy. Our house is trimmed in blue so Dad thought they would match well and they're super low maintenance. They do spread out quite a bit, but you can prune them anytime (which I do). The flowers stick to you, so just don't plant them where you want to walk by. I think just about everyone here in Tampa grows them; they've become one of those plants you see at strip malls, medians, etc. Here's a pic I took a few days ago; I think it's a Polydamus ST. Check the daily pic thread to see the Tiger Swallowtail I got the other day. It lingered on the plumbago for several minutes; I was so happy!

Oooh...pretty wildflower. One of my favorite animals is our endangered gopher tortoise. I was reading how some scientists think that certain plant seeds benefit from being digested by the tortoise before it poops them out - like it's an important part of the process. And considering some of the crazy things we have to do to start seeds (boiling soaking, scoring, cold stratifying), it kind of makes sense. I always find it funny when I plant something on one side of the yard, and I get a stray one growing somewhere else. I always forget that people are animals too, and we can carry and distribute seeds just the same!

Absolutely! I can imagine a gardener keeping a gopher tortoise to harvest seeds... LOL
I love to walk under the power lines in spring and fall and see an amazing selection of volunteer plants...

Thanks gals. It is funny Melanie. I actually got some of the plant you pictured from my neighbor and planted it. So I think I actually have some Plumbago. It is beautiful. The only problem is it wilts really bad and I think it is dead and then the next day it looks great and has blooms on it. Hopefully this is just the process until it gets established. If that is the case then I have another host plant for a different kind of butterfly. I am so excited.

And podster I guess I need to start walking under the power lines at my house. Never thought about that. Thanks.

Leslie

My Plumbage goes limp too during the day if it is especially hot. But recovers just fine unless it needs to be watered! LOL!

I find lots of really good vines in the hedges that separate stores! I've rescued 3 or 4 Passiflora suberosa this week alone!

Adrienne

Oh my gosh, Adrienne! I'm going to have to start looking around at commercial landscapes! LOL!

Good to know Becky about the Plumbago. That is exactly what mine does. Thanks.

And Adrienne great idea. I live pretty close to a garden center pretty close to home. I don't mind making a little drive around it and see what is happening. Thanks for that.

Leslie