Want amazing color in your garden “where the sun don’t shine?”

Coleus (Coleus blumei)  Coleus plants are eye-dazzlers and easy to grow with impossibly colorful leaves. They are not grown for their flowers but for their leaves.In fact you should pinch flowers off when they appear so that plant energy goes to the leaves. The leaf patterns and colors are distinctly on the wild side — spotted, splashed, and edged in shades of color ranging from purple, yellow, pink, intense red, and luminous chartreuse. Coleus thrives in heat and part shade and only need regular watering to flourish all summer. Some coleus trail so they make the perfect “spiller” for shady area pots.

 

Coleus can stand alone in the shade garden but are spectacular added to the Hostas or Ferns in the shade garden.  Coleus come in so many colors and shapes that they can be placed from the back to the front of your shade garden and make a statement or blend nicely with the perennials you already have planted.  

Coleus are fairly easy to start indoors from seed or plants are readily available just about anywhere nursery plants are sold.  Coleus will be the first plant to succumb to fall frost but if you move them indoors prior to that frost they make colorful houseplants over the winter.

 

 Cornell University has great information for choosing the right coleus variety and growing them in your home garden. 

There are new varieties that grow well in the sun as shown in this video.

Let's get growin' coleus!