While we all sit under the spell of Old Man Winter (no kin, I promise) I thought I would share three plants that I consider to be magical in the landscape. They are all three Luscious lantanas but they are like magic as you prepare to design your flower border for the new year.

The flowers I am talking about are Luscious Royale Cosmo, Luscious Basket Tangeglow and Luscious Berry Blend. The three of them have combined for 57 awards from North to South and I assure you there are a passel of "Perfect Score" trophies. When you look at the list, know that Royale Cosmo and Basket Tangeglow are about the same at 26 inches tall and 24 inches wide, while Berry Blend is slightly larger: 30 inches tall and wide.

If you are like many gardeners, you are already fretting. Will this flower go with that one, from the standpoint of color, in this year’s garden? This is where the magic comes in. Let’s look at it from a broad perspective. You’ve most likely been taught that you can’t combine orange and pink. Yet at some time you will see those together in some clusters of all three varieties, even if Proven Winners doesn’t say so.

The truth is, you see even more colors as new florets open and others age. You see more colors as temperatures and light flex or modify. So, from the standpoint of color planning, I say that no matter which partners you choose, there will be times in the season when you will look like a design color guru. They will magically come together, and you will be out there with camera in hand. These clusters of tiny florets are indeed like a kaleidoscope of ever-changing color throughout the day.

These three varieties don’t get rated for pollinators, but The Garden Guy, who is a former director of the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas, can tell you these are champions for butterflies and hummingbirds.

What will you plant with your lantanas? I love blue flowers like Supertunia Mini Vista Indigo petunia, Rockin Playin’ The’ Blues and Rockin Blue Suede Shoes salvia. Like you, I was worried about pink shades, but the more shocking the color the better. The new Supertunia Mini Vista Pink Cloud will make a great filler in your mixed containers. But I treasure chartreuse foliage like ColorBlaze Lime Time or Mini Me Chartreuse coleus as partners too. Don’t forget about Sweet Caroline ornamental sweet potatoes.

All the Luscious lantanas are rated as zone 9 and warmer perennials and annuals elsewhere. I garden in zone 8 and have not lost one yet. I walked out on the patio this morning however and it was 18 degrees with a lot more cold coming, so perhaps I will be in the lantana shopping business. The key to survivability is good soil drainage. Boggy soil partnered with bone chilling cold is not a good recipe. As mine have survived several winters they are all in the upper range of expected height and width.

So, when you think about the Luscious Berry Blend tag saying shades of fuchsia to orange and yellow, just imagine the journey getting there. What other colors might you see? These three Luscious lantanas are magical.

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(Norman Winter, horticulturist, garden speaker and author of “Tough-as-Nails Flowers for the South” and “Captivating Combinations: Color and Style in the Garden.” Follow him on Facebook @NormanWinterTheGardenGuy.)

(NOTE TO EDITORS: Norman Winter receives complimentary plants to review from the companies he covers.)

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