Lantana montevidensisTrailing Lantana

Lantana montevidensis, the Trailing Lantana, is a low sprawling shrub that behaves as a ground cover, running out to a metre or more and carrying flat heads of mauve to purple flowers almost without pause in a warm climate. The foliage is small, dark and aromatic, and browsing animals leave it alone.

It is a mainstay of hot-climate median strips, embankments and roof planters, because it flowers hard on very little water and asks for one shear a year.

Specifications

• Height0.3 to 0.6 metres
• Width1 to 2 metres, trailing
• Native toSouth America, from Uruguay and southern Brazil to Argentina and Paraguay
• FoliageSmall, toothed, dark green aromatic leaves on trailing stems; evergreen in warm climates
• Growth rateFast

Conditions

• SoilTolerates poor, sandy, rocky and alkaline soils; needs good drainage
• LightFull sun
• WaterLow; drought-tolerant once established
• ClimateThrives in tropical, subtropical and warm arid regions; frost sensitive but reshoots from the base

Additional Features

• FlowersFlat heads of small mauve to purple flowers, near-continuous in warm climates
• UsesIdeal for mass ground cover, embankments and batters, median strips, roof planters and spill over retaining walls
• SpacingPlant 0.5 to 0.8 metres apart for a closed cover within a season
• Low MaintenanceShear back once a year to keep the mat dense and to renew flowering wood
• Pest ResistanceGenerally resilient; the aromatic foliage deters browsing
• Drought ToleranceFlowers reliably on minimal irrigation in high heat
• Wildlife AttractionFlowers are worked steadily by butterflies and bees
• Erosion ControlDense trailing mat holds soil on slopes and batters

Trailing Lantana is the hot-climate ground cover that keeps flowering when the irrigation budget is cut.