'Miss Huff' Blows Me Away

If you desire a plant which blooms profusely all summer long, think of 'Miss Huff', Lantana camara. This hardy lantana is August's Plant of the Month at the Wilson Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, 1806 S. Goldsboro Street.

Lantana is an old fashioned favorite but most people think of lantana as an annual. That is one of the most attractive attributes of 'Miss Huff' since she will perennialize given the right situation.

'Miss Huff' hardy lantana is a small shrub that dies to the ground in winter and is used as a perennial in our area. The key is not to cut it's woody stems until early spring. If you cut the hollow stems in the fall/winter water fills them and kills the plant during the cold weather. Also make sure to plant lantana in soil with reasonable drainage (no water saturated winter soils) and mulch.

It is drought tolerant and sun loving. It grows four feet high and wide. It forms an irregular to mounding shrub with medium textured foliage. Bruised foliage does have a fragrance and slightly prickly stems. Berries are poisonous and should not be injested.

Lantana can be used in a container, raised bed, or even at the seashore.

Lantana camara flowers resembling small verbenas in size and form. The flowers form clusters that are displayed from early summer to frost. As it ages each flower cluster tends to change color from yellow to orange to pink. Since each of the flowers in a cluster opens at different times, the whole range of color sequence is always present. The plant thus assumes a tri-colored look with a primary color being orange. Here at the Garden it is planted in raised beds out front of the building with 'Blackie' ornamental sweetpotato vine. The bright orange flowers of the lantana with the dark purple sweetpotato vine makes a very handsome display.

'Miss Huff' is irresistible to butterflies. So it makes a welcomed addition to the butterfly garden, near a patio, or in a children's garden. (Make sure children are old enough to not eat plants - poisonous berries.)

Some potential pest problems include red spider mites or white flies. I have never experienced these critters in the several years I have been growing it. Powdery mildew has also been reported although I have not seen it this year on the plants at the Garden and it has been a bad year for mildew.

Many cultivars of lantana are available in many flower colors such as purple, white, and mult-colored but 'Miss Huff' is the only cultivar to over-winter annually.

The Wilson Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, at 1806 S. Goldsboro Street, is open from dawn until dusk. For more gardening information please check out my web site at http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/wilson/staff/clauderd/index.html. This web site has all the plant of the month's with pictures. Come visit the garden!

Home gardening questions can be answered Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 1 until 3 PM by calling 237-0113 and speaking to a Master Gardener. Applications for the Master Gardener program are being accepted now for fall training, starting September 9.

Date Created: 8/4/03.

Updated: 8/25/03