Lantana and...?

This is my first year with lantana. I've got a few plugs of 3 different colors.... yellow, spreading pink, and a multi-colored. Are lantana generally a stand-alone plant or do I want to add something to the container to dress it up a little? All suggestions most welcome. :-D

I believe that it is totally a personal preference. I use lantana sometimes in pots as more of a trailer as mine always seem to hang more than anything. But I believe their are different kinds of it as well-more of a trailer and more mounding. I'd check proven winners website in their containers recipes and see what they pair theirs with. Maybe something there will really catch your eye.

Thanks Squirt, I'll do just that!

Lala here I see the yellow used with Plumbago. I think it's good with any deep blue, salvia, blue daze, etc.
;)

Thanks Sugar. Actually the yellow is the only one I've planted and that's close to the color scheme I chose. I used it with trailing burgundy petunias and pink bacopa.

I always have the end results picured beautifully in my mind. Sometimes it's rather amusing so see how different they turn out.

LOL Lala I NEVER really have end results in my mind, it's more of "hmm, maybe I'll stick this in here..." so reading about actually PLANNING is rather entertaining. I do check the PW site but their ideas require more forethought than I can manage. Carrie

I live in a hot climate, I use lots of Lantana in my work>

I always mix up the plants in containers, in case something dies.

Dale, I always enjoy your containers! - Carrie

Thank you, Ms Lamont.

Ahhh Dale I have missed seeing your work. TY so much for sharing those pictures. I don't always succeed, but I can strive!

Lala Jane, I always show my success's, never my failures. I plant hundreds of containers a year and have had my share of misfortune. Not this time however.

Hey Lala! The trailing Lantana on their own are sort of blah and weedy looking. They look pretty good in May, but then they start showing their true habit. A lot of stick-looking things, sometimes, and I would put something with them. I have never seen an upright multi, so going on the theory it is 80% sure to be a trailer, you could do something along the lines of what Dale has. You could use a yellow Bidens and some Salvia Victoria both of which you can find in cell packs for cheap, I think. If you can't find Bidens, then the Gem marigolds would work because they flop over.

You could work in a geranium with the pink trailing Lantana and some white "something" like annual babies breath or bacopa or something you just know it when you see it at the garden center...all the plants mentioned can take dry conditions, so they'd be happy living together. Or reverse it and do a white geranium with a purple.lavender petunia? Somehow those combinations don't sound like you, mebbe too sedate? So maybe go with an orangey- Coral Callibrochoa, the pink trailing Lanatana and an orange Osteospermum or an orange Geranium.

Lantana comes in bright yellow and also a butter yellow, but yours is probably bright yellow? In which case, maybe Verbena bonariensis and a red Zinnia would be pretty. Or an orange Zinnia? Or a magenta Zinnia? :)) Zinnias would need some moisture crystals beneath them, tho. Throw a bright petunia in there, too.

I wish I had some Lantana. I have 4 seedlings of the Pale Butter yellow upright, but cannot imagine they will bloom this year. I'll be lucky if they bloom before I die. LOL! I guess I'd better buy some, but with all the plants/seedlings I have here, well, let's just say this gal shouldn't be BUYING anything!

Suzy

All very sound suggestions Miss Suzy, thank you! I am the same way regarding making purchases. I've got a bazillion seedlings going and I also split some plugs with a couple of folks. I have my own personal gardening center in my back yard and I do NOT need to buy another single flower. But still I'm sure I will, LOL.

It's so hard with the seedlings when they're still .... well, seedlings. I need them to be big and all grown up to be able to "see" how they'll look together. I think I have the biggest problem with height when I try to make up containers with babies. I'm always afraid I'll plant a 2 foot tall zinnia with a 2 inch verbena.

Ooooh-Ahhhhh. Dale what IS that?

Lala_Jane,

I am quite sure someone has warned you and you've tried it for yourself, but please be aware that some folks find lantana extremely irritating to the skin. My DH is one of those people. When I had it (and loved it) it was straight in the ground in the front border, you had to go through it to get to anything else. Every time he would weed the back of the bed (hard for me to reach) he would come out with itchy patches wherever he touched it. I vowed never to have it again unless in a container so he could avoid it - then I couldn't find it anymore. I have never seen the seeds for the trailing variety, although I haven't tried all that hard.

Carrie

Carrie,

For the first time I have seeds on my trailing lantana. I have been growing it for 30+ years and have never seen seeds before (or never noticed them). I am going to plant them when they are ripe.

LaLa Jane, I planted these in a backyard two years ago. I was over there this morning changing some of the containers to the summer flowers, but, I left these alone>

The ones out front still looked good too.

I tried to get a close up of one, but, the light and my cheap digital camera didn't get it right.

Dale, if I were a gazillionaire and lived in Florida, you would be my gardener of choice! If your trailing lantana seeds sprout, maybe you could send me one or two for next year?? Is my DH the only one who reacts so severely to the foliage, or does everyone in FL wear gloves all the time? LOL! Probably that's why those Disney characters are all wearing gloves, hmmm, now that I think of it! Carrie