Native Plants

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Saturday - December 04, 2010

From: Katy, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Pruning, Shrubs
Title: Care for lantana in Katy TX
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Hello. I live in Katy TX and have a number of Lantana shrubs. How and when should they be cut back?

ANSWER:

From The Georgia Gardener, here is an article on pruning lantana. Since you are in Katy, you should probably not be worried about your plants freezing back and dying; in fact, they should be semi-evergreen with long periods of bloom. However, we always liked to prune them down to about 6 inches from the ground when they got scraggly in mid-winter. They will come up from the roots, so those stalks left standing mark your place so you won't accidentally pull up the first green sprouts, thinking they are weeds. During the summer, you may find it advisable to prune them back lightly if they try to take over your garden and get too big.

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