Butterflies will come to it, but it seems less attractive to them than other Lantana species (at least in my experience). I've seen a few skippers on it. The common Lantana (L. camara) seems to be more reliable for attracting butterflies and other pollinators. I got my L. montevidensis at a local nursery last spring. It doesn't seem to be as commonly available at garden centers as L. camara. Here's a photo of a purple cultivar of montevidensis -
https://plantmaster.com/plants/eplant.p ... oject=2315
In a contained area, it's easy to control, but if given space, it will rapidly climb all over everything in a vine-like manner, as here, with this fence -
https://waterwisegardenplanner.org/plan ... evidensis/
It's growth habit is very different from that of camara, which is much more shrub-like in shape.
As with anything else, I'm sure that there are numerous variables involved. I like to think that the deer are now staying away from my place just because I planted a bunch of Lantana, but it could well have more to do with the fact that there are now more dogs on my street, which might be a deterrent to them. Also, as of late last year, a new residence was built just to the east of my house, which also happens to be the direction that most deer would have wandered in from, where there is a heavily wooded area.kevinkk wrote: ↑Fri Sep 20, 2024 4:35 pm Perhaps, but I offer this- The Lantana I have is in a container that held a sweet gum tree , the tree, more or less a sapling, this year began to fail,
so it was cut, the stump left. We planted the flowers, and later the sweet gum started to grow again, the deer ate the new Liquidambar, right next
to the Lantana. Now, you could read just about anything when it comes to animal behavior, is it random chance, or by design?
