Lantana make really good Bonsai trees if you can find one with a big trunk. Finding one with a big trunk is hard to do outside of Florida. I do think it is possible to grow a small Lantana up if you can keep it alive over the winter. They do grow well under florescent lights in colder areas of the states. I keep mine directly under a large double t8 florescent light. I use an orchid fertilizer all winter, 1 scoop per gallon of water of this product: RePotMe Fertilizer. I have had the following Lantana since 2009 and have let the branches grow all winter long and pinch the flower buds off all winter long. In the spring the branches have been chopped back. After 7 years I feel the branches are big enough that I do not have to let it grow out any more and will keep it trimmed back this year. Lantana love to be re-potted. If your Lantana is wilting after watering, then you need to do an immediate re-potting session and cut back the branches. It should respond back with new growth.
White Flies are a real problem with Lantana. All my Lantana’s have come down with them except the one shown below. White Flies never seem to bother it for some reason. I have had to use a very strong systemic insecticide to get rid of them.
15 Different Types of Lantana (All Lantana Varieties) by Plant Blog New 07-31-2021
New 07-31-2021:
The tree is doing exceedingly well this summer and is sitting under 30% shade cloth and blooming like mad. All seems to be ok and it is very tall now.
New 11-04-2020
I repotted my very large Lantana about a week ago out in the garage. The tree was not doing well in the house under fluorescent lights. I was having a hard time trying to keep it form wilting, which is a sign to repot your tree. The tree was taken out of its pot and I cut around 40% of the root ball right off it with a large hand saw similar to this one below, it is important to cut the root ball flat and not lopsided:
I also chopped the tree back by a lot as I had allowed it to grow unchecked all year. This is how you grow large branches on Lantanas. You let them grow very long and wait. Cut them back in the fall or early springs, wash, rinse, repeat every year and you will develop large branches from small green shoots. You may loose a few larger branches when chopping the tree back so be prepared to loose a few. My tree was potted in standard fast draining soil except I added 30% mushroom compost available from Lowes. I also added Plant Tone organic fertilizer and Pennington Ultragreen fertilizer to the soil before adding it to the pot. I did not bother any of the soil/moss on top of the soil. I did feather out the soil a little around the root ball, not much, but a little. I also did not wire this tree into the pot. The bark on this tree is very thin and wire would leave a mark and using air line tubing would prevent it from being shown. My tree is no leafing/budding out in the plant room. It also trying to bloom! I generally cut off all of the flowering buds before they open. I did let my tree bloom all summer and harvested a whole bunch of seeds that I will to plant and grow some new Lantana’s.
For some unknown reason White Flies do not like my large Lantana. I have had smaller trees from box stores that were covered in them, but known on this big tree. Totally amazing and mind boggling not that I am complaining.
A pair of silverleaf whiteflies, Bemisia tabaci, which measure about one-tenth of an inch long, feed on a watermelon leaf.
I did find some incredible examples of Lantana as Bonsai that I had not see before. So here they are:
Update 09-19-2018:
2018 Lantana camara – Lantana Bonsai
Photo below courtesy of Bonsai Bark.
Lantana Camara 22 years old, in training in Colorado for 7 years.