Bees love showy lantana

NICOLE HACKETT

GARDEN GIRL

Let’s hear it for lantana, one of the Clayton Valley’s most summer hardy families of plants.

Lantana boasts prolific blooms of gold, purple, pink, red, orange and white from early summer through late fall. Lantana plants are easy to grow, water-wise and long-blooming.

The most common lantana sold is the trailing purple groundcover, which has a small oval, dusty green, textured leaf. Woody stems stretch outward 3-4 feet and are covered with nickel-sized, grayish-purple globes of tiny flowers. Trailing purple lantana puts on some height as it matures. You can expect piles to reach more than 2 feet tall eventually. The height occurs more quickly if you have to control the width.

Trailing white Lantana is also popular. This selection grows just as well as the purple, with all the same growth habits. The leaf color and texture are the same, but, of course, the flower color is white. Consider placing one purple and one white lantana in the same hole for a great looking companion planting.

New Gold is an exciting, bold yellow trailing lantana with dark green, small, textured leaves. Its superior yellow really stands out in the landscape. Consider mixing it around red foliage plants for a nice contrast.

The bush lantanas are very desirable, with more

20% off color selections. They tend to develop slowly into shrubs. Bush lantanas can reach heights of 2-4 feet tall and wide. This will take some time; our cold winters slow the process. Dallas Red, Confetti, Radiation and Irene are the most popular colors of bush lantana. They have been around for years and are predictable and very reliable.

Dallas Red’s color takes a journey. The globe-shaped flower begins as a group of small red flowers with some gold and orange in the mix. As the flowers mature, the gold and orange turn to a bright, yellow-based red.

Confetti is another colorful lantana that starts out as one shade and changes into another. First, the flower is a group of pastel pink and yellow with just a couple of white tiny flowers creating its globe. Within a day, the multi-color pastel blossom changes to nice light pink.

Confetti isn’t the showiest lantana on the shelf, but planted against a dark backdrop, like an old fence, it comes alive.

Irene starts off as a globe of mostly magenta pink with a handful of tiny orange and yellow accent flowers. Eventually, the blossom matures to a solid magenta. This bold color works well with red foliage and blue flowering plants.

Several collections of dwarf shrublets have emerged in the past few years. The Bandana, Bloomify and Shamrock collections have a series of color combinations that resemble their larger growing relatives, but with sizes that mature to 1216 inches tall and wide. Look for Bandana Lemon Zest, which is a yellow that ages to white, Bloomify Rose or Shamrock Peach.

Colorful lantana thrives in our Clayton Valley landscapes and gardens June through November. During the winter months, lantana can appear dry and dead.

Treat it like a perennial: Enjoy your lantana when it’s beautiful and don’t fret when it rests. In the middle of March, cut back the dry, woody stems to make room for the new season’s growth.

Lantana is very bee and butterfly attractive, and pest and disease tolerant. It is a great installation for anyone needing blasts of bold color in their summer landscape.

Nicole is the Garden Girl at R&M Pool, Patio, Gifts and Garden. You can contact her with questions or comments by email at gardengirl94517@yahoo.com

R&M is the place for

•Sales, repairs & supplies of all pool equipment

•Extensive collections of perennials, annuals, trees, shrubs, roses & houseplants

•Premium potting soils & conditioners, decorative bark & mulch

•Doughboy swimming pool dealer for 30+ years

Hours: Tues-Sat 9-5, Sun 10-4, Closed Monday guys at Art Boutiki in San Jose – where “Down to the Fat” was recorded – for knowing exactly how to capture this kind of lightning.

“Broken Promiseland.” Since forming in Los Angeles in the late ’80s, The Uninvited have been churning out their blend of alt-country and catchy pop rock on a half dozen albums, before taking a 15-year break. Now based out of Pleasant Hill, the band is back at it with their newest release. Some locals may have recently had the chance to catch the full band perform live at WiseGirl in Pleasant Hill, or perhaps just the core duo – founding brothers Steve and John Taylor – performing at various events and venues around Diablo Valley. The band considers “Broken Promiseland” to be their best work to date and wants everyone to know they’re “Not Dead Yet.”

“What We Watered.”

One of my personal favorites of 2023, “What We Watered” is a must-hear for those who enjoy listening to entire works front-to-back. Berkeley singersongwriter Maya Elise and her very talented band The Good Dream are clearly having a blast, both on the record and on the road, as they continue to tour parts of the United States in support of her third full-length album. “What We Watered” is beautiful and imaginative, with inviting melodies, rich vocal harmonies, intimate delivery, exquisite production and some fun artistic left-turns. Headphones recommended.

“Hurt.” Released earlier this month on the seventh anniversary of his cancer diagnosis, “Hurt” is the second full-length album from Orinda singer-songwriter Daniel Ray Hilsinger. Like its predecessor “Everlasting,” the new album is a collection of hyper-personal ballads, delivered with sincere emotion, through DIY low-fi recordings. While his previous work embraces acceptance and hopefulness, much of “Hurt” explores some of the darker elements of the human condition: pain, anger, resentment and grief.

Far from unproductive wallowing, Hilsinger uses these negative emotions as an alternate way to connect to listeners – to remind us that all we have is now, and that we should all do whatever we can to “Fly like a bird with no care in this world … because the end will come sooner than you think.”

Find links to the aforementioned albums and countless other local releases at ConcordRockCity.com.

Contact Dave Hughes at MrDaveHughes@gmail.com.

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram and now on THREADS at Concord Clayton Pioneer

POOL, DARTS, LIVE MUSIC and GOOD FOOD

Mon - Sat 11 am to 1:30 am

Sun 10 am to 1:30am (during football season)

July/August

Fri

Fri - Aug 18 . . . The Real Thang Band

Sat - Aug 19 . . . Union Jack and the Rippers and ACDZ plus guest Unearthed

Fri- Aug 25 . . . . Bay Area Grooveline

M jones & the Melee, Orbit 17 and Moraga Volcanics

Fri - Aug 4 . . . . Fuzzbolt

Sat - Aug 5 . . . . Maroon Vibes, Phantom Power & Crayzed

Fri - Aug 11. . . . Zach Waters Band

Sat- Aug 12 . . . Metal Night: KVBrick Stare, Sullen Eyes, The Beauty in Dream, & 4199

Regular Weekly Schedule

Sunday - Corn Toss Open Tournament 1:30 p.m. ($10 to play).

Indie Rock Bands at 7pm (no cover)

Monday - Open Mic Night hosted by Joey Nunez and Vince Lay (no cover)

Sign-up by 8:30

Tuesday - Country Line Dancing with DJ Delta Dave (no cover) 8pm

Wednesday - Karaoke With DJ SolRok (no cover) 8pm start time

Sat Aug 26 . . . . Journey Revisited and Def Leppard Revisited Thurs - Aug 31 . Mariah Angeliq

Moraga Volcanics - July 29

Thursday - Salsa & Bachata Dance lessons from 7-9 p.m. with instructor Lorans Latin Dance Academy from 9 p.m. on is open dancing with Latin DJ Tonee Salsa/Bachata/Merengue/ Reggaeton ($10 cover after 9pm)

Saturday - Aces Cracked Poker League (free to play) 1pm