Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
All I can add to the annual versus perennial discussion is that my lantanas range in age from 8 years to 2 years. They all have come back year after year. I live in the midlands of South Carolina near Columbia (Hardiness Zone 8) and we get freezing weather in the winters, 4F was the lowest this past year. The things I do is mulch before winter.
I think in the whole state of Florida lantana is considered invasive because it spreads easily down there.
I can't get my verbena to come back decently each year. I think I am going to take lantana cuttings and overwinter them to fill out my wildlife garden instead of trying to nurse the verbena.
Lantana did not like the cold here over last winter either, I'm a bit north of you. As far as verbena the only one that comes back after my zone 7a winter with any kind of reliability is Purple Homestead. It is a bit invasive in my garden and needs to be cut back to stop it from choking other plants. The largest one had a spread that was about 6-7 feet in diameter without the trimming!! It was supposed to be closer to 3 feet. I have an unnamed white one (plant swap item)that is just starting to bloom and took it's sweet time showing up... in all the wrong places. The plants are getting transplanted this week.
This garden forum is like talking with the clients that I have in a senior living community.
Who knew Lantana, Nandina, Hibiscus....... could be so controversial.
Keep fighting the good fight.
Wow! Are you my "twin"? I recently retired from a job as horticulturist from a 23 acre Senior Living complex, where all of the residents, and 95 percent of the other staff believed that knew a good a deal more about plant care than I do. It is such a huge relief to be away from that place!
I never knew that my post could be so "controversial", lol. I really appreciate the advice everyone.
I am in Zone 8, so I would think that perennial plants normally come back unless it is a very cold winter, which we had some very hard freezes this year and on top of that, we have had a very hot, dry summer so far. Everything the previous owners had planted has come back up this year, except they just don't look healthy like they did when we moved to the house last summer. The canna lilies are very very slow growing, have produced no blooms and look burned on the edges, same as the lantana and the sage bushes. I don't know, could just be one of those awful summers. From my recollection, the last time we had a really bad summer that pretty much everything died was in 1998.
I did buy some Purple Homestead Verbena also. I was told it does very well here. I try to do alot of research online and ask alot of questions at actual nurseries where people are educated (or should be) about plants before I buy them. I am just looking for native, drought tolerant plants that I don't have to plant year after year. I understand that some things won't come back if mother nature decides to wreak havoc on us but I hope to not have costly mistakes like the 200 Impatiens I planted in March and they are now dead.
I have a bunch of lantana in a front bed that I just planted a month ago. New Gold and Lucky. It was searing and dry then, as it is now, but the lantana is probably doing the best out of all of my plants. I try to water them daily since the heat dries out the ground fast. Hopefully we won't have another hard freeze like last winter...will surely kill them if so.
Wow! Are you my "twin"? I recently retired from a job as horticulturist from a 23 acre Senior Living complex, where all of the residents, and 95 percent of the other staff believed that knew a good a deal more about plant care than I do. It is such a huge relief to be away from that place!
I have a bunch of lantana in a front bed that I just planted a month ago. New Gold and Lucky. It was searing and dry then, as it is now, but the lantana is probably doing the best out of all of my plants. I try to water them daily since the heat dries out the ground fast. Hopefully we won't have another hard freeze like last winter...will surely kill them if so.
Ah, so you are in the same zone as I am. I bought some New Gold and some other Superstar varieties so this is good to know. Were the Lucky that you bought the Peach Lucky? That is what I bought and it is doing crappy. I find it ironic that I am trying to get these to grow in controlled areas (flowerbeds, etc) and then I see them growing like crazy in random places where no one takes care of them. Go figure.
I never knew that my post could be so "controversial", lol. I really appreciate the advice everyone.
I am in Zone 8, so I would think that perennial plants normally come back unless it is a very cold winter, which we had some very hard freezes this year and on top of that, we have had a very hot, dry summer so far. Everything the previous owners had planted has come back up this year, except they just don't look healthy like they did when we moved to the house last summer. The canna lilies are very very slow growing, have produced no blooms and look burned on the edges, same as the lantana and the sage bushes. I don't know, could just be one of those awful summers. From my recollection, the last time we had a really bad summer that pretty much everything died was in 1998.
I did buy some Purple Homestead Verbena also. I was told it does very well here. I try to do alot of research online and ask alot of questions at actual nurseries where people are educated (or should be) about plants before I buy them. I am just looking for native, drought tolerant plants that I don't have to plant year after year. I understand that some things won't come back if mother nature decides to wreak havoc on us but I hope to not have costly mistakes like the 200 Impatiens I planted in March and they are now dead.
Believe it or not zone 8 is not always "warm" enough for some perennials. There are a lot of perennials that do fine in 9-11 but become "used as an annual" in cooler zones.
There are probably multiple reasons for the burned on the edges look you have described for a number of your plants. Without seeing a lot of your garden and the places that the plants are most of us would be guessing. I do know that even in severe dry conditions watering as much as you said you have been doing will cause problems. A soil test wouldn't hurt and will let you find a likely cause ( anything or everything of the following: high salt levels in soil, extreme pH, too much or too little fertilizer, imbalance in fertilizer components, missing micronutrients, high level of chlorine.... and so on).
You are very fortunate to be in the same state as Ladybird Wildflower Center. They have a lot of information on planting with natives that are tolerant of TX sized weather. Start with this page for some ideas: NPIN: Recommended Native Plant Species
Note that they even divided TX into smaller "zones." This will help you zero in on what works in your part of the scorching hot state.
There are some other very helpful sites that may let you find the right plants for later this year and next spring so you don't waste time and money on plants that can only end up failing. You should be researching xeriscaping instead of plant sites that cater much more to the temperate zone 4-7 .
Outstanding Perennials for Texas
If you want to research individual plants and use a similar map that has section of TX this site seems like the perfect place to find something you know will grow. The extension is usually a good bet for local information rather than taking the word of people who do not have the same conditions you have in your backyard. Master Gardeners are usually associated with the Extension on a county wide level, and are a really good resource for fixing mistakes and avoiding future ones. Call them!!
Once you have an idea of the plants you want you can use site's like Tips and Advice on Outdoor Gardening, Flower Gardens, Plants, & Seeds - Dave's Garden to look them up and find vendors that sell them if you cannot get them locally. I prefer local to long distance and small sellers to the box stores but it isn't always possible. The Garden Watchdog feature on Dave's Garden lets you see if the seller has had problems or has had a lot of happy customers.
Wow! Are you my "twin"? I recently retired from a job as horticulturist from a 23 acre Senior Living complex, where all of the residents, and 95 percent of the other staff believed that knew a good a deal more about plant care than I do. It is such a huge relief to be away from that place!
Try managing the garden center for a chain. They hire you to manage and order product, then tell you not to recommend tomatoes because they don't do well in Sacramento. This, despite Sacramento being known for being one of the best places in the world to grow tomatoes. Then there was the time I ordered hops and was told I should read up on "exotics" before I order them because they don't survive the winters here. Again, the Sacramento Valley was once the leading hop production region in the country.
I think I've given up on working for other people in anything to do with garden centers. I'll just stick to the greenhouse business.
Were the Lucky that you bought the Peach Lucky? That is what I bought and it is doing crappy.
They were called "Lucky Lantana". Helpful I know, but that's Lowe's for you. I think they're a mixed color variety with more pink than anything...probably Sunrise Rose.
They're currently smaller and slower growing than my New Gold ones for sure, but New Gold is a spreader and Lucky is a mounding type.
I picked New Gold because it's all over my neighborhood and looks absolutely gorgeous, even in spots where I doubt they're getting any supplemental water.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think I am going to take lantana cuttings and overwinter them to fill out my wildlife garden instead of trying to nurse the verbena.
It was supposed to be closer to 3 feet. I have an unnamed white one (plant swap item)that is just starting to bloom and took it's sweet time showing up... in all the wrong places. The plants are getting transplanted this week.
