Any lantana growers?

[MotherNature]

Hello everyone!

I'm too far north to grow lantana as a perennial, but one of our local farm markets sells it as an annual.  Last year I got one and it did well in a hot location without much water (in a pot on the blacktop driveway, don't water much because we're camping so often   ) It got about 5' long but wasn't well-branched, just like a long singular vine even though it had lots of flowers.

I'd like a more compact plant - will pinching off the growing tips make a bushier plant or is it a lost cause?

Thanks!

[BootheBunch]

Hello everyone!

I'm too far north to grow lantana as a perennial, but one of our local farm markets sells it as an annual.  Last year I got one and it did well in a hot location without much water (in a pot on the blacktop driveway, don't water much because we're camping so often   ) It got about 5' long but wasn't well-branched, just like a long singular vine even though it had lots of flowers.

I'd like a more compact plant - will pinching off the growing tips make a bushier plant or is it a lost cause?

Thanks!

I have lantana as a perennial...and my experience with it is it is great as a spreader.  I have it in a big, brick planter, and it is full of the flowers (we put about 12 starters in there).  When we cut it back, it gets maybe one foot thick.  We love it!  Around here, in SoCal, it is mostly used as ground cover...works well on slopes and such.  Good luck!

What about geraniums?  They get bushy!

Lisa

[ScouterMom]

We're north, too, and it seems to me that the ones I've seen are bushy - usually in hanging pots.  I've had a few, and they all were 'balls' of bright flowers - but they were probably overplanted in the pots (multiple plants) and pinched back to get bushy.  I think pinching back would help - but what also would help is getting a pot that has a water reservoir in the bottom or some kind of watering system that keeps the plant from getting stressed.

Geraniums are nice, but I, too prefer the bright varigated colors of the Lantana - colors you can't get in geraniums.

laura