Hi : ) It sounds like a good idea to me but I wonder if they would become root bound in the container. I have the same problem with my Lantana,it has taken over along with my Zinnia. They both grew like crazy and looked messy,I tried to keep up with the pruning but it became too much especially w/ the hot summer we had. The butterflies didn't seem to mind, I had tons of them! I hope someone has some advice for us both : )
Toni

That is an interesting thought. I have trimmed and maintained them that way, but hard to keep up. I have lost some to maybe something getting at the roots so have gotten rid of those. I have replaced with red pentas. I have noticed the butterflies like the Golden Dew Drop and Purple porterweed. I feel I have enough butterflies in the garden, but may like more variety. I do have passionvines and milkweeds and a few others.

Good luck with the experiment.

I planted two New Gold lantana in the large bottom container of my tipsy pots summer of last year. I was a little surprised when they showed new growth this spring since they were completely unprotected. They are large now and yesterday, when I was planting the upper pots with pansies, I tried to turn the whole thing and was surprised that I couldn't turn it......until I realized that the lantana had *escaped* through the drainage hole in the pot. It's stuck tight with roots going down into the ground.

I also tried a blue potato bush buried while still inside the container because I just wanted to be able to overwinter it outside last year. It's about 6-7 feet tall and about 4-5 feet wide now and I would imagine that the roots go to China, LOL.

I'm going to wait until the Lantana goes dormant, then cut the roots above the ground and move it out of the container. Apparently, it wants to be Freeeee ;). I hope you have better luck corraling your plants!

Kristi

I just had to respond to this one. I have several of the old fashioned orange as well as pink lantanas. One of them I have had in a large pot mixed with purple ruella and the butterflies love it. It doesn't get as bushy as it does when planted in the ground, but I can move it around to where I want and I overwinter it on the southside of my house where it gets lots of sunshine and cover it up with a sheet and depending on how cold maybe a blanket and a drop light along with my other potplants. Last winter we got down to 6 degrees once and in the mid to upper teens several times and when I uncovered it this spring it had blooms on it. This is all to say that they can be grown in pots with success. I also have one mixed in with Turks Cap which makes a lovely combination and draws the butterflies like crazy.

Hope this helps.

Ms. Faith

Tee!Hee! I have been guilty of that, Remudal. Plants outgrowing their pots!

Sounds like pretty combinations, Faith. I would not have thought that Lantana and Turks cap would have been happy together.

Larose, perhaps you could give the Lantana a place of its own for all of its shining glory?

I have been reading this post with much interest as the one plant I would never ever want to be without in my BF garden is lantana. I probably have over 80 lantana plants around my house. Yes, they can get a little wild at times. But, I've found that they respond to pruning. And if they get too out of hand, I yank them up.

I have found so many unusual BFs on them. I had a Zebra Longwing on the yellow ones once many years ago. And I had a Zebra Swallowtail on the lavender colored lantana the same year. The first BF should never have showed up in my BY. The second one is a rare visitor to my area.

This year I have had incredible BF populations and I attribute that to the lantana that I planted all the way across the front of the BF garden. I alternated the low growing yellow and lavender plants. I can't walk by the lantana without a cloud of BFs coming up off the flowers. To me it's worth putting up with the bad little habits. Kind of like putting up with DH! Just a joke, honey!

Sandy

I agree, Sandy! I curse mine sometimes because of the way it crowds out other plants, but it's worth pruning back - no plant attracts large numbers of butterflies consistently any better than lantana.
MissSherry