Lantana

Beautiful against
Mexican brick, bright winter
garden colouring

~ carliewired

I love the lantana in my garden. It conveniently blooms while I am here for the winter. That's something I hadn't expected to enjoy.

When I first saw this particular shrub, it was about 5 feet high and leaning against a palm tree while blooming profusely. Last winter, it was hacked back to the ground by some over-zealous labourer. All that remained of it then were some sticks in the ground. No leaves. I had no expectation that it would survive, never mind completely replace itself in a year. Here we are, a year on and it is back to 5 feet high and with abundant blooms.

I am warned that the leaves are toxic. Sometimes they cause rashes on skin. The blooms are very attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds. The berries are also very attractive to birds. (They remind me of blackberries.)