Create Beautiful Garden Displays With Lantana

With its vibrant colors, hardy nature, and pollinator appeal, Lantana has become a garden staple. But did you know that the plants you pair with Lantana can elevate its impact in your garden or container? This Garden Blog will help you discover what to plant with Lantana in garden beds, containers, and pots, ensuring a thriving, low-maintenance landscape filled with color and life.

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By: Reggie Meehan (6/23/2025) - Last Updated (2/27/2026)

Benefits of Companion Planting with Lantana

Lantana is a versatile and highly effective companion plant. Its bright, bold flowers create stunning color contrasts when paired with plants featuring striking foliage or complementary blooms. Gardeners can use Lantana to add visual depth to garden beds, borders, and containers. Beyond its beauty, Lantana’s nectar-rich flowers attract pollinators, and pairing it with other pollinator-friendly plants creates a dynamic, wildlife-friendly landscape filled with vibrant blooms and essential pollinator activity.

Additionally, Lantana’s strong aroma and coarse leaves naturally deter deer and rabbits, protecting more vulnerable neighboring plants from browsing. Its pest-resistant qualities make it a valuable addition to gardens in areas with high wildlife pressure. Lantana’s ability to thrive in hot, dry conditions also makes it an ideal partner for other drought-tolerant plants. By pairing Lantana with plants that share similar water needs, gardeners can create a low-maintenance garden that requires less frequent watering.

Above, note annual Samantha Lantana paired with Petunias, Peonies, Lavender, and Bearded Iris as the backdrop and, to the right, the red and yellow Downtown Greenville Coleus as the border.

What to Plant with Lantana in the Garden

When you pair Lantana with other heat-loving, sun-hungry plants, you create a planting that not only looks cohesive but performs effortlessly through the toughest part of Summer. The key is choosing companions that enjoy full sun, excellent drainage, and a bit of drought tolerance, just like Lantana. When everything in the bed wants the same conditions, the result is fuller growth, longer bloom cycles, and far less maintenance. Here are some of my favorite plants to pair with Lantana for nonstop color and texture all season long:

Sun-Loving Annuals

Pair Lantana with other sun-loving flowers and annuals to create a garden that absolutely bursts with continuous color from Late Spring through Fall. When you combine plants that share the same love for full sun and well-drained soil, the entire planting feels balanced and performs with far less effort. Instead of constantly adjusting watering or worrying about one plant outpacing another, everything grows in rhythm. This approach not only simplifies maintenance but also creates a fuller, more intentional look that holds up beautifully through Summer heat.

Zinnias are a natural companion, bringing bold, saturated blooms that echo Lantana’s intensity while thriving in the same bright conditions. Petunias and Calibrachoas blend seamlessly with Lantana thanks to their comparable growth habits, forming a cohesive, flower-filled display that feels lush and layered rather than crowded. Scaevola is another strong partner, offering fan-shaped blooms and the same heat and drought tolerance, making it an easy addition to sunny beds where resilience and nonstop color matter most. With similar growth habits, Petunias and Calibrachoa pair seamlessly with Lantana, creating a cohesive, colorful bed.

Drought-Tolerant Perennials

If you are building a perennial garden that you wish to be low-maintenance and drought-tolerant, perennial Lantana pairs beautifully with other tough, sun-loving perennials that can handle heat and dry conditions without constant attention. When everything in the bed thrives under the same conditions, you spend far less time watering, fertilizing, and troubleshooting stressed plants. The result is a resilient, cohesive planting that looks vibrant through the hottest stretches of Summer without demanding constant upkeep.

Salvia is one of my favorite companions because its tall, spiky blooms add strong vertical structure above Lantana’s mounding form, creating a layered, multi-dimensional look that keeps the eye moving. Sedum is another excellent partner, especially lower-growing varieties that weave around the base of Lantana, filling gaps with fleshy foliage and clusters of star-shaped flowers. Together, these combinations give you texture at multiple levels, steady color, and a planting that thrives even when rainfall is scarce.

Contrasting Foliage Plants

Introduce texture and visual depth to your garden by pairing Lantana with plants that offer strong foliage contrast. While Lantana brings bold clusters of saturated blooms, surrounding it with interesting leaf shapes and colors elevates the entire design. The interplay between bright flowers and distinctive foliage creates layers that keep the planting from feeling flat. This combination adds structure, movement, and dimension, especially in full-sun beds where color intensity runs high.

Dusty Miller is a classic companion, with its silvery-gray foliage providing a cool, calming contrast against Lantana’s vivid yellows, reds, and oranges. The soft, muted tones of Dusty Miller help balance the heat of Lantana’s blooms while adding a refined, almost velvety texture to the bed. Coleus on the other hand, brings bold, multicolored foliage that amplifies the drama. Its rich burgundies, chartreuse edges, and patterned leaves add depth and complexity, creating a dynamic backdrop that makes Lantana’s flowers stand out even more.

Plants to Avoid Pairing with Lantana

Not all plants make good companions for Lantana. Avoid pairing Lantana with these plants:

Shade-Loving Plants: Ferns, Impatiens, and Astilbe require shade, making them unsuitable companions for sun-loving Lantana.
Moisture-Loving Plants: Plants like ferns, hostas, and hydrangeas require consistent moisture, which conflicts with Lantana’s drought tolerance.
Overly Aggressive Spreaders: Avoid plants like mint, which may overrun Lantana’s space and compete for nutrients.

How To Use Lantana In Pots / Containers

When growing Lantana in pots or containers, it's essential to consider pot size, drainage, soil, and sunlight for healthy growth. Choose a pot or container that is at least 12–18 inches in diameter to provide ample space for the roots to spread, as Lantana’s vigorous growth can quickly outgrow smaller pots. Lantana thrives in full sun, requiring 6–8 hours of direct sunlight daily for optimal blooms. Position the container in a sunny spot and rotate it every few weeks to encourage even growth. Without adequate light, the plant may become leggy as it stretches toward the sun.

Proper drainage is crucial to prevent root rot, so select a pot with multiple drainage holes and consider adding a layer of gravel or stones at the bottom to prevent water from pooling. This extra layer allows excess water to escape more easily, reducing the risk of soggy roots that can suffocate the plant. Use a well-draining potting mix, ideally one designed for containers, or amend standard soil with sand, perlite, or grit to improve drainage and ensure the roots receive adequate oxygen.

To create stunning pairings, consider using the "Thriller, Filler, Spiller" method, a design approach that provides height, volume, and cascading movement. Lantana’s versatile growth habit allows it to function as either a Filler or Spiller, depending on the variety. Pair Lantana with complementary plants to create lush, colorful arrangements that thrive all season long. This method not only maximizes visual appeal but also ensures a balanced, dynamic display that draws attention to your container garden.

Lantana in a container with many other annuals

Using Lantana as a Thriller

Thrillers play a critical role in container design because they establish height, structure, and a strong focal point that anchors the entire arrangement. Miss Huff is one of my favorite upright Lantanas for this role, especially in larger patio containers. It is vigorous, heat-tolerant, and known for its exceptional cold hardiness compared to many other varieties, often returning reliably in warmer parts of Zone 7 and into Zone 8. Its clusters of orange, coral, and pink blooms create a warm, sunset-like color blend that reads boldly from a distance. In containers, Miss Huff builds height quickly and forms a sturdy, branching framework that gives the planting presence and stability.

Dallas Red, on the other hand, brings a deeper, richer intensity to the thriller position. Its saturated red blooms, often brushed with hints of orange and gold, create a dramatic focal point that immediately commands attention. It tends to grow upright and full, with strong stems that hold their structure even in Summer heat. In mixed planters, Dallas Red acts as a powerful vertical anchor, allowing trailing and mounding companions to soften around it without competing for dominance. When you want a container that feels bold, confident, and unmistakably vibrant, Dallas Red delivers that top-tier centerpiece energy.

Pot containing Miss Huff Lantana, Petunias, and Dichondra

Using Lantana as a Filler

Fillers are what give a container its body. They add volume, soften transitions between the taller centerpiece and the trailing edges, and keep the arrangement from looking sparse or top-heavy. Mounding Lantana varieties like the Bandana® Series and Lucky® Selections are textbook Fillers, thanks to their compact, bushy habit and nonstop bloom production. They stay dense and well-branched, filling in quickly around a Thriller while maintaining a tidy, rounded shape that keeps the overall design cohesive.

Their lush foliage and saturated flower clusters create a strong mid-layer that ties everything together visually. Whether you are working with bold reds and oranges or softer pinks and yellows, these mounding types blend beautifully with upright Thrillers and cascading Spillers to create balance and movement. Most Lantana camara varieties naturally fall into this Filler category, making them incredibly versatile for both containers and in-ground landscape beds. In pots, they provide that essential fullness, and in garden plantings, they form vibrant, mounded color blocks that anchor the design without overwhelming it.

Lantana used as a filler in a container with tall ornamental grass

Using Lantana as a Spiller

Spillers are what bring movement and softness to a container, cascading over the edges to break up hard lines and add dimension. Lantana montevidensis is outstanding in this role, with long, flexible stems that drape naturally and create a flowing, layered effect as they spill downward. Instead of looking stiff or forced, it moves gracefully, forming a curtain of color that gets fuller and more dramatic as the season progresses. We especially recommend Trailing White and Trailing Lavender both of which bloom heavily and maintain strong trailing habits in full sun.

Hanging baskets, elevated planters, window boxes, and tiered container gardens all benefit from this cascading motion. The trailing growth softens the structure of the container and visually connects the planting to the space around it. When paired with upright Thrillers and mounding Fillers, trailing Lantana completes the composition, giving it that professional, finished look that feels abundant and intentional rather than flat or static.

Pairing Lantana for a Colorful, Thriving Garden

Pairing Lantana with complementary plants creates a vibrant, eye-catching garden display that thrives all season long, adding beauty and color to any space. Ready to add Lantana to your garden? Explore the best varieties and order your plants today to enjoy endless blooms and effortless beauty!