Care for Frost Damaged Lantanas
- 1). Prune dead sections using a pair of sharp pruning shears. Make the cuts 1 to 2 inches below the dead area. Always cut back to green wood when pruning sections of a frost-damaged lantana.
- 2). Cut back badly damaged lantana plants all the way to the ground. Remove all the foliage and branches down to 1-inch above the soil line with pruning shears. This pruning method, called renewal pruning, restores leggy, overgrown lantana, as well as other frost-damaged plants.
- 3). Keeping lantana well watered Reduces damage before a hard frost. Soak the soil around your lantana plants. Allow the water to penetrate 6 to 8 inches deep all around the roots.
- 4). Spreading a mulch layer over the soil before the ground freezes helps insulate the soil. Use straw, wood chips, sawdust, pine needles or bark. Spread the mulch 2 to 4 inches thick all around the plant's base. Removing the mulch layer in spring once the freezing weather ends allows the soil to warm up.
