Lantana montevidensis Mauve

The Lantana montevidensis (syn. sellowiana) 'Mauve', is a recent variety of creeping Lantana selected for its more colourful inflorescences than those of the type. This small bush with a spreading and bushy habit is capable of flowering almost all year round in a very mild climate, or from spring until the end of summer anywhere else. It covers walls with umbels of mauve flowers with a red heart, whose centre turns to yellow at ripeness, in elegant draperies. Its foliage, aromatic, evergreen in a mild climate, takes on a beautiful purplish hue under the effect of the cold. More hardy than the Lantana camara, with a colour that is easier to match in the garden, this plant will flourish in the open ground in a rockery or above a wall, in a Mediterranean or mild oceanic climate.

The Lantana sellowiana is a bush from the verbena family, just like the perennial vervains. It is native to South America. It is a spreading shrub composed of multiple flexible stems that intertwine into a dense mass perfect for covering the soil. It will reach about 60cm (23.6 in) in height and 1m 20 in wingspan. Its foliage, aromatic when crushed, is evergreen under a mild climate and in a greenhouse. It is made up of thick, rough, satin, quite dark green, dentate and slightly waffled leaves, truncate at the base, narrower at the top. In spring or at the beginning of summer, its beautiful flowering starts: grouped in 3cm (1.2 in) umbels, the small tubular flowers of this 'Mauve' variety form a round bouquet with a changing colour. Each one blooms in mauve with a small pink-red centre, then takes on a beautiful lighter hue at ripeness with a medium yellow heart. They have a pleasant, slightly lemony scent, and are highly nectariferous and melliferous.

Hardy up to zone 8, resistant to frosts of around -10°C (14 °F), or even more, in drained soil, once well established, the Lantana montevidensis 'Mauve' can be planted in the open ground and stay there all year round, as it is not very demanding about the nature of the soil. It is indeed in the garden that it will be the happiest, even in a somewhat arid situation. It can be associated in a very drained massif with exotic perennials like the Hesperaloe parviflora and the Epilobium canum 'Western Hills', or other small flowering bushes like the Helianthemum, bushy pinks, lavenders, cistus, or Salvia greigii. In cold regions, this plant is grown in pots or planters and will require much more regular watering. The 'Mauve' Lantana elegantly matches in a rockery with the white flowers of the Iberis sempervirens, or blue ones like those of the perennial flaxes, aubrietes, wall bellflowers or the creeping Plumbago. It can also be planted at the front of a mass of agapanthus, Callistemons or gauras in a fairly dry situation. Also take advantage of its creeping branches that spread as ground cover, and can easily fall over a wall.