Ham and Eggs

My wife enticed me to plant this a couple of weeks ago. It's a lantana known as Ham and Eggs. It's probably the oldest type of lantana planted in my area. It gets huge - big enough to substitute for a hedge! Makes a rounded shrub that can be 5 feet tall or so and covered with these flowers that both hummingbirds and butterflies love. Lantanas are definitely in my top 5 butterfly nectar plants. My wife told me that the hummers are also swarming the lantanas this year. I recommend shearing back the large lantanas periodically. Shearing them makes them come back bushier and with lots more blooms. They'll come back year after year in zones 8 and up. The blooms last from April until frost and are just non-stop. The leaves have a lemony scent and make some people itch, so be careful. Also, the black seeds are said to be poisonous.