I hope they make it. I planted 4 'Miss Huff' spring 2013 here in zone 7. None of them made it but we did have that drop down to +3 which is unusual when the polar vortex grazed us so not a typical year.

'Dallas Red' is considered marginally hardy in zone 7 but those didn't winter last year either, I am trying them again from cuttings I saved hoping for a more average winter this year.

I also took cuttings from 3 different unknown types that I know have grown here in OKC for years. A solid deep yellow large shrub type, a pink/light yellow large, compact shrub type and a sprawling orange/red type. I know all of them are cultivars because I am also growing the wild Texas native 'horrida' and the wild Camara types and you can tell by the heavy berry production and leaves on these. All of the cuttings made it through 2013 harsh winter without mulch. I had wintered over cuttings of 'Miss Huff' for insurance so I planted these this spring and time will tell. Its a very robust grower and gets quite large in a single season.

So much for all the hardiness touting of 'Miss Huff' but they do root quite easily and winter over indoor, my cuttings bloomed all winter in a south window.

In the middle of the photo is the sprawling orange/red one. Last year it was only about 3ft wide but this year has spread to about 6ft wide. It and 'Dallas Red' are the heaviest bloomers and most robust of all of them, they do not shut down mid season like some. 'Miss Huff' is currently not blooming much but will pick up when the temp drops.

My favorite is the solid deep yellow shrub type, its a slower growing type but the mother plant was about 5ft x 5ft so I expect the same at maturity. Lantana is trial and error and I am trying as many as possible for hardiness.

Well, hopefully my Sonset Lantanas will return next spring. I planted them on the south side of my house. I have approx. 3â of mulch around them, and I donâÂÂt cut the dead stems until I see new growth emerging in the spring. ThatâÂÂs usually the first or second week of May around here.

This post was edited by plantingman on Fri, Sep 5, 14 at 17:32

By the way, that is a beautiful garden you have there. I love all the different shapes and textures of plants.

I don't trim stems either but I can't have mulch piled up around here, because of the types of plants I grow, I keep the soil dry in winter and there is thick gravel which keeps the temperature warmer from solar heating, any snow melts very quick on it. You can't go by last winter either, it was a fluke.

I love lantana and we grow it here as an annual. I always have at least one in a large mixed pot every summer. I see that every year they are coming out with more and more colors too. This year, I think I had Patriot in my mixed pot along with some million bells and annual dianthus. I hope that we hear back from you next spring and that your lantana plants have made it through the winter. Please take time to let us know how they did!

Linda

I certainly will, linlily.

Thought I posted here...must've not confirmed it.
I have some of the same lantanas as TR has (undoubtedly from the same sources). Mine are the wild types, and I planted one last year in November (yes, bad time..but it was when I got the plant)..and it survived the three polar vortexes to be as large this year as last. Hopefully, it will really bulk up for next year.
Winter wet is your enemy....
I really need to visit TR and ransack the garden.

A former co-worker of mine was given some lantana camaras from her relatives in Western Texas about nine years ago. She doesn't know what cultivar they are. They might be an uncultivated form. They grow wild in W. Texas. Their blooms are yellow and pink, and they produce copious amounts of viable seed. My co-worker planted them on the south side of her house, and they have been coming back reliably for her for the past nine years. Not only do they return for her but they have proven to be rather invasive in the rest of her flower bed. Every spring she pulls numerous lantana sprouts out of her flowerbed.
She gave me several of these a few years ago, which I planted on the south side of my house and garage. They all came back the following year and the year after that. I dead headed the fading blooms to encourage more blooms instead of seeds. It worked so well that I couldn't keep up with them.

Here is an old photo of the ones that were on the south side of my garage:
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I eventually got rid of them because once they stopped producing flowers and only produced seeds, (usually early September) the branches would lay on the ground due to the weight of the seeds.
This is why I decided to try Sonset Lantanas this year. I figured if the "wild" ones came back reliably, maybe these will too.
I'm not sure why they come back more reliably in SC Kansas, which is a cooler climate than TX. I'm sure it's a combination of circumstances. We have cold, dry winters and hot, dry summers here. In addition to that we also have drying winds all year, and the soil in my area drains extremely well, even after days of torrential rain, which we don't have very often.
I'll try to remember to post an update next May as to whether or not my lantanas re-sprout next spring.

This post was edited by plantingman on Sat, Sep 6, 14 at 15:19

plantman, those sound like the wild camara 'ham and eggs' type, not native to the US. Those are easily hardy in zone 6, my grandmother used to grow them. You can trim the stems back at the end of summer and they will bush up and bloom into fall. The native Texas 'horrida' has orange and red flowers and they have small barbed thorns on the stems. I'm using these on a border where the dirt is bad for easy to grow ground cover in a war with vinca major. Lantana is winning.

Thanks for the info. TRanger. That would explain why they keep coming back so easily.