Lantana

Lantana (Lantana camara)

Common Lantana, Shrub Verbena

Full sun; dry to medium moisture, well-drained; highly drought-tolerant once established; tolerates poor, sandy, or rocky soils; pH 5.5–7.5.

2–4 feet tall and wide in Tennessee (treated as annual in Zone 6b; may root-hardy to Zone 7b with mulching); blooms continuously from late spring through frost with verbena-like clusters in yellow, orange, red, pink, or multicolor combinations that change color as flowers age; black drupes ripen continuously through season.

Propagation: tip cuttings root readily; purchase transplants in spring — does not reliably overwinter outdoors in Zone 6b without heavy mulching.

Native region: Not native to Tennessee; ornamental introduction from tropical America; considered invasive in USDA Zones 8–11 but does not naturalize in Tennessee's climate.

Lantana is among the most durable warm-season flowering plants for full-sun, dry sites in Middle Tennessee — a category where few ornamentals perform well in the summer heat along south-facing beds, hardscape edges, and sloped sites with thin soil. Lace bugs (Tingis spp.) are the most consistent pest — stippled, bleached foliage in mid-summer indicates feeding damage; affected plants recover after treatment with insecticidal soap. Butterfly traffic on L. camara in Tennessee is exceptional — monarchs, swallowtails, skippers, and Gulf fritillaries all use the flowers heavily from July through October. The unripe green fruits contain lantadene compounds and are toxic to children, dogs, and livestock; ripe black fruits are much less toxic but still inadvisable to consume.