Lantana

As you are probably aware by now, Spouseman is a keen vegetable gardener. He will happily spend most of the day pottering about nurturing his vegetable plants and bringing me their bounty to brutalise in the kitchen. He is less interested in non-productive flowering plants.

Conversely, I am rather fond of flowering plants so long as they are happy to look after themselves without the need for too much molly-coddling. If I spot something attractive which seems to be self-sufficient I will often take a cutting or collect some seeds to see if it will thrive back at home.

Several years ago I succeeded with a common (wild) pink/yellow (ham & eggs) lantana and because it is doing so well and attracts clouds of butterflies I have been keen to extend the collection to some of the less common colours. At one point I cheated and bought a yellow/orange from the local garden centre. It's doing OK but nothing really to shout about.

The other week I spotted a vigorous orange/red variety on the edge of town and just had to have some, so yesterday I snapped some off and brought it home. There are now eleven little pots to be molly-coddled in the hope that at least one makes it to maturity.

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