Our Summer Lantana
Lantana is the sherbet of the summer season, served in scoops of all different colors. Unlike sherbet, a Lantana won’t melt in the hot summer sun, making it an excellent choice as a centerpiece in a high August garden or containers.
It’s also a good-looking candidate for dry garden designs, found in those places that only get natural watering from the sky. No hose? Rough soil? Plant Lantanas.
Despite their toughness, Lantanas present a tender side to beneficial insects. They offer strong nectar production so they attract birds, bees and butterflies that help an ecosystem along.
We are shipping six different Lantanas right now. Although they come in a wide range of sizes and shapes, we ship only the short and dwarf varieties—the most useful of the Lantanas in our design toolbox.
‘South Beach Compact Heat’ is a dwarf, growing about 18 inches high. It is roughly rounded and blooms with light and dark orange shades on the flower.
‘South Beach Compact Hot Pink’ is another dwarf, about the same size. Rainbow sherbet flowers have four colors present: an outer ring of pink with red eyes and an inner ring of white with yellow eyes.
‘Samantha Yellow’ is a wide dwarf. It grows about as tall as the others (18 inches) but nearly twice as wide. Bright lemon flowers complement striking variegated foliage—very, very few Lantanas have foliage like this.
‘Luscious Grape’ is another wide dwarf. It has purple flowers with small white eyes. From a distance the color is light lavender, but as you approach you will see that it’s lavender with light polka dots.
‘Luscious Piña Colada’ is small for a Lantana, but it is one of the bigger varieties we use, growing about 24 inches high and 24 inches around. It has pleasing white flowers with yellow eyes that actually have a creamy appearance.
‘Patriot Weeper Sunbeam’ is a very wide dwarf. It grows about 18–24 inches like the other dwarfs, but it is the widest lantana we sell with a 3-foot spread. The flowers are a consistent golden yellow all around.
Let’s change the subject for a moment and discuss that crazy name—‘Patriot Weeper Sunbeam’. If you play word games with your children, ask them about this one and see what they think it means.
It turns out that the name is actually an industry formula that can be decoded.
A man by the name of Dr. Jack Roberson has hybridized (17) different kinds of Lantanas. Branding is important these days so he has organized all of them under the Patriot™ name.
Seventeen is a lot of Lantanas for any collection, so Dr. Jack divided his selections into groups. The second name, Weepers, tells you these Lantanas are the low ones. The Pillars, as you might suspect, are the tall varieties.
Sunbeam, the last part of the name, signifies that they are golden yellow.
Translation: Patriot (Dr. Jack) Weeper (Low-Growing) Sunbeam (Golden Yellow) is Dr. Jack’s low-growing, golden-yellow Lantana. Naming this way is not an unusual practice in the industry, but some background knowledge is required to navigate the system.
It’s also an example of a breeder-centric name. This meets the needs of the breeders but it makes no sense to the average buyer who doesn’t have access to any special background knowledge. Sometimes, these formulas generate names that pique our curiosity but don’t make much sense when they stand alone on a list.
