DryStoneGarden

Lantana montevidensis

Lantana grows in several gardens we maintain. I’ve never particularly liked it. I don’t like the smell, and the orange flowered shrubby form, Lantana camara, is a scourge in Australia where Anita and I stayed for three months. Even this one, the trailer, Lantana montevidensis, has an impressive list of places where it’s a noxious weed. It clashed with the other plants the only time I ever planted it. 

But it’s tough. It doesn’t need much, if any, water. Cut it to the ground and it comes right back. Bees and butterflies like it. It can bloom all winter on our side of the hills, and it does a great job of draping down over concrete walls.

To balance my karma now that I’ve praised lantana, I present the Aussie recipe for organic removal of Lantana camara:

Dig, pull, cut, hack, butcher.

Burn.

Dig, pull, cut, hack, butcher.

Burn.

Dig, pull, cut, hack, butcher.

Plant a fast growing groundcover, shrubs, and trees (preferably local native species).

Mulch as much as possible.

Dig, pull, cut, hack, butcher.

Mulch as much as possible.

Dig, pull, cut, hack, butcher.

Plant more fast growing groundcover, shrubs, and trees (preferably local native species).

Mulch as much as possible.

Our friend in Australia would probably add to that recipe: Repeat.

ryan 12/24

calendula & geranium "bill walls"

We try pretty hard for year-round bloom to keep our beneficial insects happy, but I doubt they’re very impressed with our offering on the first day of winter. Geranium “Bill Walls,” this calendula, and Linaria pururea are the only ones in full bloom. Everything else is young or only able to muster a token bloom. Of interest probably only to me, the bloom list is below:

(more…)