| Plant Type: Half-hardy Annual Uses: Border, Container, Underplanting, Indoors, Greenhouse Propagation: Stem Cuttings, Seeds Habit: Bushy Light: Full Sun, Part Shade Flower Color: Blue Blooms: Summer Width: .75 - 1 ft.; Height: 3 ft. Fertility: Average Soil: Neutral, Moist Zone: 1 - 1 |
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Few plants exhibit a richer palette than this tropical shrub. Velvety leaves are splashed with double or triple color combinations" yellow, red, green, orange, bronze, ivory, chartreuse, white, cream, brown, red, crimson, salmon, pink, maroon, and purple. The leaves themselves can be heart-shaped, very narrow, or oval with deep lobes, serrations, scallops or ruffled edges. Flame nettle, as it is also called, reaches 1 to 3 feet tall. All hybrids form spreading mounds
Set nursery transplants of this fast-growing annual 2 to 3 feet apart in moist soil. Select a site that receives morning sun. Keep flower spikes snipped to extend the rich foliage color into fall.
Most coleus grow best in strong, indirect light or filtered shade. Some varieties, most notably those that have more red pigment in their leaves, are more sun tolerant. Look for "Plum Parfait" and "Burgundy Sun" at your local nursery. Both were bred for full sun and are among cutting-grown types that bloom little if at all during the growing season.
All are hybrids, tracing their parentage back to the 3- to 6-foot-tall C. blumei, to the 1 1/2- to 3-foot-tall C. pumilus and to other species. C. pumilus, besides contributing shorter growth, accounts for the creeping stem, deeply toothed leaves and three-colored patterns found in many coleuses. Typical of the varieties is "Rose Wizard", which grows 10 inches tall and has leaves up to 4 inches long, bright rose in the center, with cream and green edges. In their native habitat, coleuses grow as perennials, but they are generally grown as annuals in cooler temperate-zone gardens. They are used in beds and borders as edging plants or in masses, as well as in pots, hanging containers and window boxes.
Coleuses are winter-hardy only in Zone 10, but they can be cultivated as summer annuals almost anywhere and do well in a wide range of garden soils. They do best, however, if they are kept evenly moist and are fed monthly with an all-purpose fertilizer. Mulch if necessary to maintain soil moisture. Although most gardeners purchase nursery-grown seedlings or rooted cuttings, common coleus can be started from seeds sown indoors 10 weeks before the last frost is due. Do not cover the seeds. With bottom heat of 70°, seeds germinate in 10 days. Move plants into the garden when all frost danger is past, spacing them 8 to 12 inches apart. The first several pairs of leaves may not be variegated; colors will develop later and the most intense colors are usually found in vigorous seedlings.
You can easily propagate additional coleuses of any variety from stem cuttings, rooting them in water or moist sand.
Watch for mealy bugs and aphids.
