I gave up on roses as too much like hard work and insufficient flowering. I bought 8 lantana ‘Chelsea Gold’ and planted them in the front yard. Easy Peasy. No special care, they flower nine months of the year, in flower most of the time. No pests or diseases… what’s not to like? They are hybrids and not the rampant cream/pink lantana that invades everywhere it can. The hybrids do sprout and I have had several starters in the garden but the hybrids are not invasive.
This is my front yard most of the year- two pairs of hedges and they flower constantly.
Every couple of years I lift them to control the roots and replant. This year I kept two for bonsai and re-spaced the rest and soon they will be brightening my villa complex for another year.
But back to the two I kept out for bonsai. They have been potted in training pots to re-establish the roots. One never quivered a leaf, the other is just starting to recover from trauma mode. Sadly, I have bonded with one. It is far too big for me but fool or otherwise, I am keeping it. I have ordered one of Kate’s plastic bonsai pots to minimise weight and then the issue arises about a stand. I was in the Salvation Army retail outlet in Rockdale and saw a nest of tables, Queen Anne style for $35. Now I don’t like Queen Anne style and I didn’t want a nest so I went to the counter and offered $20 for the smallest table. Prompt agreement. A good size cascade stand for $20 – how good is that!
The pot is being posted from Brisbane. Pot cost $12.50, postage $22 but it is the weight – or lack thereof that I am after. And these are really great bonsai pots. They look like ceramic bonsai pots and weigh a fraction of what a ceramic pot does.
Lantana, stand and friend
This is not a Kate’s bonsai pot, this is a basic training pot. But you get the idea. You have to think of the tree in full foliage and flower. It will be a stunning bonsai- great nebari and the glory of the hot coloured flowers will surely highlight any bonsai bench. I reckon a few months before it will be flowering again. Final styling has not yet been done. I am letting the tree rest and recover but it is doing very well.
I really like lantana. I know they are classed as noxious weeds, and the pink/cream definitely is, but the hybrids are unjustly tarred with the same brush. They flower profusely over a long period of time. I periodically take the hedge cutters to them and reduce the size and they are flowering again in weeks. As bonsai, they definitely brighten the bench and bring joy just looking at the vibrant flowers. I say again, what is not to like?
