In Glossa, on the island of Skopelos, the multi-coloured flowers of Lantana are a common sight. This vigorous shrub needs cutting back hard to stop it outgrowing its space with prickly colonising runners.
We have three clumps in the garden and by cutting back each in succession, we have the red, yellow and pink flowers for much of the year.
Although it is thorny and the berries are poisonous, we welcome it because Lantana flowers are eagerly visited by butterflies.
We have one bank in full flower now and today it was all a-flutter with Painted Lady butterflies feeding and flirting with interruptions by an occasional Red Admiral.
We’re looking forward to June and the next hatching of Swallowtails and Rare Swallowtails. Pictured here from last year on a bright bougainvillea, these floating beauties love the Lantana too.
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