| Description | Coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) A duel purpose plant. Grown outdoors during the summer, root a cutting and grow it indoors in a bright window during the winter. A tender tropcial perenial grown mostly as an annual. |
|---|---|
| Plant Type | Annuals, Perennial Tender, Site author's observations |
| Hardiness Zone | 9-11 |
| Sunlight | Since the 1990’s many new varieties have been developed that thrive in the full sun. Many of the older cultivars still grow better in semi-shaded sites. In deep shade the plant gets leggy and colors suffer. When growing these indoors they need a bright window. Even the full sun plants will do as good or better when given some shade. |
| Moisture | Coleus is a rapid growing plant and will quickly fill out a flower pot with foliage and a mass of roots. At this point they need to be kept evenly moist. Although a little wilting dosen’t seem to hurt the plant, continual wilting will certainly cause leaf damage in the long run. In the flower bed the roots have a large area to draw moisture from and average moisture should suffice |
| Soil & Site | average |
| Growing Media | average house |
| Temperature | Not a good plant to set out in the garden when it is still cool. Memorial Day weekend or later is a good starting point (zone #5). One of the first plants to succumb to a frost. |
| Flowers | Small blue flowers on a thin stem that may branch. Not of ornamental value and are usually cut off. The main purpose of growing this plant is the foliage. New non-flowering plants are being developed. |
| Leaves | Coleus has extraordinary foliage color and a plethora of leaf patterns. Colors in the leaves can be red, orange, bronze, pink, green, white, chartreuse, gold, burgundy, yellow, and etcetera. Patterns can be striped, blotched, splashed, streaked, solid, etcetera. |
| Stems | mostly green but some have red stems |
| Roots | fibrous |
| Dimensions | Older varieties can reach 2-3 plus feet tall. Many of the newer cultivars are more compact and self-branching. |
| Maintenance | Removal of flowers and pinching to keep compact and in shape. |
| Propagation | One of the easiest plants to root from a cutting. Seeds are small and slow to reach transplanting size. The seedlings first set of leaf-like structures will be green, these are not true leaves but cotyledons (seed leaves). The first set of true leaves will exhibit the color of the plant. |
| Cultivar Origin | Discovered by Karl Blume in Java prior to 1853. |
| Misc Facts | Coleus were in fancy during the bedding out craze of the Victorians. They would keep the plants in glass houses during the winter and bed them out in the summer. In cultivation since 1825. AKA: , Painted Nettle, Flame Nettle SYN: Coleus blumei, Plectranthus scutellarioides |
| Author's Notes | This is an over all fun plant to grow. My students were continually amazed at the colors and patterns of the leaves. One of the first plants I use to teach plant propagation. |
| Notes & Reference | #27-Rodale's Annual Gardens (Paul Loewer), #28-Cottage Garden Annuals(Clive Lane), #37-The Contained Garden (Kenneth A. Beckett, David Carr, David ), #51-Armitage's Manual of Annuals, Biennials, and Half-Hardy Perennials (Alan Arimitage), #118-Coleus (Ray Rodgers) |
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