The Colorful Flower That Blooms All Summer & Well Into The Fall

Summer heat can be tough on your garden, and many flowers fizzle out once the temperatures really start to rise. Luckily that's not the case for all beautiful blooms. The stunning lantana (Lantana camara) thrives during the hot months.

This tough but gorgeous plant has no problems with summer heat and doesn't stop blooming until there's frost on the ground. While lantana can come in a variety of colors, many of the most popular cultivars come in shades of orange and yellow, so it's no wonder that so many have deliciously citrusy names. 'Citrus' is a mounded cultivar that grows to about a foot and a half tall and 2 feet wide. The slightly taller and wider 'Luscious Citrus Blend' has red, yellow, and orange blooms. While the 'Luscious Royale Lemon Tart' is a similar height but pure yellow. Despite how mouth watering the citrus related names may be though, lantana is actually poisonous to people and pets. Butterflies and hummingbirds love the heat tolerant flower though.

Caring for lantana plants is generally a breeze, as they are quite drought tolerant once established. Just be sure to plant your lantana in full sun and provide it with weekly water if it hasn't rained recently. Don't forget that plants grown in containers usually have to be watered more often, but test the soil first to avoid overwatering. 

Lantana is generally treated as an annual, but in USDA hardiness zones 9 and higher it can be a perennial. Lantana is deer resistant, so you typically won't have to worry about hungry visitors nibbling away your landscaping. This beautiful plant does have one major downside though: Lantana is invasive in Florida. So gardeners there should avoid growing Lantana camara and stick to native Florida lantana species like wild sage (Lantana involucrata).

As long as lantana isn't invasive in your area, it's an easy way to bring vibrant, citrusy colors to your garden beds, planters, and even hanging baskets. Whether you grow it alone as a mass planting or pair it with plants like pentas or butterfly weed, its colorful blooms are perfect for adding a refreshing splash of color to your gardens when you need it most.