Coleus – Spring Flowers

Coleus is a completely different kind of “Spring Flower” as the flowers are not what this plant is famous for.  This annual may not have the actual flowers that many of the other beautiful seasonal have, but it has more “Pop” than almost any of them.  This summer flower is famous for it’s extremely vibrant colors!

Ideal conditions and best uses for these flowers.

Coleus thrives in partial sun and well drained soils.  Of course those are ideal conditions, I have seen it do very well in full sun as well, but it cannot take full shade.   It will get very leggy and the leaves will not have as much vibrancy. There are many different sizes and growth habits.  Some of the varieties will grow up to three feet tall and other varieties will only reach around twelve inches.  The shorter varieties tend to be more of a spreading variety or more of a ground cover.  The variety shown above is the ground cover type.   You are able to purchase just one little four inch pot and it will grow up to three feet all and well over twelve inches in width.  So this annual will provide more bang for your buck than almost any other.

Where to plant Coleus.

When planting Coleus make sure that you check the tag for the particular variety that you have.  Since this plant can grow so large you want to make sure that you have enough space.  It also has a tendency to lean over quite a bit.  If the plants near cannot take being covered up all through the summer and survive then you might to give it some more room.  If it does get to large the best way to trim this plant is to pinch it off.  The good news is that the main stem of the plant is very delicate and easy to break off. That leads to another point.  Do not plant this one any where near where it might get damaged from pets walking through the bed or the kids playing ball.  It will break very easily.  If it does break or get damaged don’t panic.  Since it does grow so fast that within a couple of weeks it will grow right back.

A kaleidoscope of Colors.

Coleus comes in almost every color imaginable but most tend to lean towards the neon type colors.  When planning my Landscape Designs I always try to plant bright and vibrant colors in front of darker objects.  If you have a white house try the darker and richer colors to really make things pop.