Lantana montevidensis ‘Nairobi Blush’

Most of the trailing lantanas you come across have flowers that are either white or lavender. So you can imagine how interested I was when I spotted this form at a nursery in Nairobi, Kenya in 2009. Its blooms are pale pinkish-lavender, sort of a hue halfway between white and lavender. This species is native to South America and actually named after the city Montevideo in Uruguay. What we found in Kenya may be an unnamed selection from a sport that arose somewhere in Africa or Europe, or an old cultivar whose name has long been lost. We will continue to refer to it as Nairobi Blush unless we learn otherwise. Whatever it’s past, it gives gardeners another great color to use for spilling out of large containers or planters.