how does mexican heather spread?

Does it spread by seed or underground? I have grown it for two years. This year, it is popping up all over the place. Some of it is 5 feet away from the mother plants.

Mine spreads underground

Mine reseeds, too. All over. In fact, I've never planted any and I'm trying to eradicate the stuff.

Sounds like St. Johns Wort...plant from hell.

Mine has always spread undergroud too (in my mom's garden). My goodness that is one stable plant! Hard to get rid of. I think we finally got rid of it by digging out the whole bed-- but a few runners of it popped up again this year.
It got to the point where I would shape it like a shrub...I did like it for a space filler with all that dense green.

LOL...here you all are trying to get rid of your Cuphea, and I'm trying to figure out how to make *more* of it!
:-D

I just got a small plant of Mexican Heather in a mixed plannter, and I love the way it looks. After reading all the info I could find on it, I'm wondering whether I could overwinter the pot, make cuttings, or (horror of horrors!) start some from seed.

Hey, it's really COLD here in Wisconsin, so I doubt if I'm going to have your problems with not being able to get rid of it once it grows. ;-)

~julie~

Well maybe we can send it all up to you! I actually really like it -just make sure you keep it in a place that you dont want to change much every spring. But if you're going to keep it in a container, then it will be no concern.

I tried to root cuttings of it this spring- with no luck- but I've never been good at rooting things, especially with such thin stems. I've never seen seeds on my MH either, but I'm sure they have to make some. I'd say your best bet is to overwinter it if you have room. But thats just my opinion. :)

Thanks art_n_garden...I was wondering about taking cuttings from the plant. And I probably will try that sometime this fall or winter. Lucky for me, I do have room to winter the plant in my basement. And since I already know it won't live in the ground here, it'll be kept in containers.

~julie~

Where can I get some info on lantana?

If you want some info on varieties, http://davesgarden.com/pdb/search.php?search_text=lantana&submit=Search

Here's a good thread about overwintering
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/436024/

rooting-
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/443204/

conditions/treatment-
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/431596/

There was another thread a while back that I can't find about how lantana is poisonous to animals and once an animal takes a bite of it they're addicted and will go back for more until it slowly kills them. My dogs have never touched my lantana, in the thread they were referring to sheep that liked it. Hope this helps, was there anything specific you wanted info on?

The profile in the Plants Database had several threads on how poisonous lantana is to animals:


http://davesgarden.com/pdb/go/578.html///