How to grow coleus - The Washington Post

One in an occasional series of guides on growing popular plants. Other guides include lenten rose, peony, redbud, azalea, elephant ear, lantana, coneflower, savory calamint and rudbeckia.

Coleus is a showy, upright or mounded tropical plant grown for its highly ornamental foliage. Most varieties need some shade but they lap up the heat, making them highly useful annuals where summers are long, hot and humid. Their remarkable variety in leaf colors and markings makes them useful on a number of fronts, especially in combination with other summer annuals.

Size

A single coleus plant grows between 12 and 40 inches high and between 12 and 36 inches across, depending on the variety. Check the eventual size because small transplants in May can become large plants by September, though coleus can be kept trimmed and reduced in scale (within reason).

Use and placement

Coleus can be used in garden beds, as an accent plant, as a way to fill post-spring voids in a plant border or grouped as an edging plant, but its primary value is as a container plant. Grown this way, it can be either admired alone, with two or three other coleus varieties, or in dazzling annual displays among other annuals, tropicals and grasses.

[The sultry plant that will break your heart]

Containers should be large enough to support their assigned plant community. Even a single coleus will need a pot at least nine inches across, and groupings will demand larger sizes. In small spaces and used alongside smaller leafed plants such as helichrysum, calibrachoas and petunias, the coleus foliage will read as the giant of the group — useful when playing with textural combinations. In a scaled up display and against the bigger leaves of elephant ear, cannas or bananas, the coleus looks more finely textured while still having enough visual heft to hold its own.

Foliage colors include shades of green, orange and red, sometimes in solid hues or, more likely, in a range of variegation where the leaf center, for example, might contrast dramatically with its margins. This range of patterns and hues allows for wide experimentation with planting color combinations. Coleus are so varied that you can use them every summer for years without repeating color combos.

Planting and care

Most coleus prefer a location where they will receive morning sun but some shade in the afternoon. Varieties have been developed to perform well in deeper shade and in full sun — make sure you are matching the named variety to your conditions. Those that take sunnier conditions still need humid climates to avoid leaf scorching.

Coleus respond to enriched soil, regular watering, and a monthly feeding. If you are growing them in containers, invest in good quality potting mix when planting. Pots must drain. Occasional pinching of stem tips will promote bushiness. By September, plants will begin to send up flower spikes, which are best removed to keep the foliage looking its best. Plants can be brought indoors for winter, though pests may build up. Cuttings taken in fall easily root in water and can be grown on for the following year.

Varieties

More than 100 varieties are available, many of them grouped under trademarked series such as ColorBlaze, Kong, Premium Sun and Flame Thrower.

Orange-leafed varieties include Campfire, Rustic Orange, Inferno, Wicked Hot and Sedona Sunset. Red-leafed varieties include Redhead, Rediculous and Velvet Red. Ruby red options include Black Dragon, Chocolate Mint, Salsa Roja, Wicked Witch and Dipt in Wine. Among the lime varieties are Pineapple Queen, Salsa Verde and Wasabi. Variegated options include Dragon Heart, Lime Sprite, Golden Dreams, Water Melon and Chocolate Drop.

Coleus Black Dragon.

Coleus Campfire.

Coleus Watermelon.

Coleus Wasabi.

TOP LEFT: Coleus Black Dragon. TOP RIGHT: Coleus Campfire. BOTTOM LEFT: Coleus Watermelon. BOTTOM RIGHT: Coleus Wasabi.

Lead illustration by Washington Post staff/iStock/Shutterstock. Icon illustrations by Jeannie Phan. All photos Shutterstock.

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