Oct 8, 2004

Lantana Makes the Most Recent Gold Star WinnerSource: FloraStar

FloraStar has recently awarded Robrick Nursery’s, Hawthorne, Fla., lantana ‘Anne Marie’ and ‘Red Spread’ with the Gold Star award.

Lantana Anne Marie was discovered in the late 1990s as a naturally occurring sport from lantana ‘Irene’. This sport from Irene was noticed for its more compact habit. Anne Marie has a dense habit with shorter internodes without pinching or the use of PGRs. Flowering is profuse with bright flower colors of dark pink, yellow and red. Some growers find that Anne Marie is ready sooner than other varieties and virtually all find that it maintains good form without additional inputs. Mature plant height reaches about 2 feet with 1- to 1 1/2-inch blooms and is cold hardy to 20° F. This variety prefers full sun and blooms mostly in the spring and summer, according to Robrick Nursery.

According to Robrick Nursery, “Anne Marie was selected from our own breeding program and named after our younger daughter. The plant has now been through tissue culture and virus indexing.”

Lantana Red Spread is not truly compact, yet it gives a mounding form that can be used in either containers or in the garden. The bloom is profuse, and red color is always evident. According to Robrick Nursery, mature plant height is about 2-3 feet with a 1-inch flower bud. Recommended container size for this variety is 6-10 inches. Red Spread is cold hardy to 20° F and prefers full sun. Quite a few growers who have trialed this plant have called it the “best red lantana available,” according to FloraStar.

FloraStar has the first program of its kind to recognize and promote outstanding new varieties of seed and vegetatively produced plants. For additional information about entering new varieties in the FloraStar Gold Star Trial, please contact FloraStar Executive Director, Mike Novovesky at (800) 554-1562.