How to Grow and Care for Hot Blooded Red Lantana

Hot Blooded Red Lantana offers gardeners a resilient flowering plant, celebrated for its intense red-orange blossoms and exceptional heat tolerance. This popular cultivar provides continuous color from late spring until the first frost, making it a standout for garden beds, borders, and containers. Its appeal is heightened by its low-maintenance nature, providing significant visual impact without extensive effort.

Key Plant Characteristics

Lantana camara ‘Hot Blooded’ is distinguished by its controlled, mounding growth habit, reaching a height and spread of 18 to 22 inches. This compact size makes it versatile for many garden applications, from mass plantings to serving as a filler plant in containers. Its foliage provides a lush green backdrop for the vibrant flower clusters that attract pollinators.

A primary characteristic of Hot Blooded Red Lantana is its sterility. Unlike many Lantana camara varieties that can become invasive, this cultivar does not produce viable seeds, preventing its spread into the wider environment. Since the plant does not expend energy on seed production, it channels its resources into a continuous blooming cycle. This nonstop flowering provides a constant source of nectar for butterflies and hummingbirds from spring through fall.

Planting and Growing Conditions

Hot Blooded Red Lantana requires a location that receives full sun, meaning at least six to eight hours of direct sunlight per day. While it tolerates various soil types, good drainage is a requirement. The plant will not thrive in locations with standing water or soggy conditions, which can lead to root issues.

Once established, this lantana is drought-tolerant, making it a good choice for water-wise gardens. During its first season, provide regular, deep watering to establish a strong root system. Afterward, water less frequently, but provide supplemental water during extreme heat. Container-grown plants will require more frequent watering than those in the ground.

This plant is a light feeder, as excessive fertilizer can stimulate foliage growth at the expense of flowers. A single application of a balanced, slow-release fertilizer in the spring is sufficient for the season. It is a perennial in USDA hardiness zones 9-11 and grown as an annual in colder climates.

Pruning and Maintenance

Maintenance for Hot Blooded Red Lantana is minimal. Because the plant is sterile, deadheading (the removal of spent flowers) is not necessary to encourage continuous blooming. The plant will keep producing flowers throughout the season without this intervention.

Pruning is mainly done to shape the plant or manage its size. A light trim of the stem tips in mid-summer can encourage a bushier plant and a denser floral display. In regions where it grows as a perennial, a more substantial pruning can be done in early spring. This hard prune involves cutting stems back to six to twelve inches from the ground to remove old growth and stimulate new shoots.

Potential Garden Concerns

All parts of the Lantana camara plant are toxic to pets, including dogs and cats, and humans if ingested. The ASPCA notes that ingestion can lead to symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea, and weakness. While this cultivar is sterile and does not produce the toxic berries found on other varieties, its leaves and stems still pose a risk.

The plant’s toxicity also makes it resistant to pests like deer and rabbits. It is robust and free from most disease issues but can be susceptible to powdery mildew in humid conditions with poor air circulation. Providing proper spacing between plants for airflow can help prevent this issue.