Gone Gardenin’ – Note to self: Do NOT plant coleus too early

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This article was published 11/07/2013 (4452 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I have learned my lesson.

I say this to myself every year but I often do not follow through on my own advice. Such was the case this year when I again planted my coleus pots at the front of the house in late May.

Last year I did the same, only to have the weather turn windy and cold just like it did this year. Coleus do not like either wind or cold and my coleus — an old heritage variety that I have had for more than 25 years — suffered severely from my transgression.

So I promised myself last year that I would not repeat my mistake.

However, the planting urge was too strong to resist again this spring and once more my coleus were set back by a combination of wind and cold.

I have printed in big letters in my garden journal: “DO NOT PLANT COLEUS UNTIL JUNE 6.”

Why that date? In my neck of the woods, it is the end of the first week in June before the average night time temperature stops dropping below 10 C. Coleus dislike cool night-time temperatures and anything below 10 degrees will set them back and they go into a sulk from which they are slow to recover.

Will I follow my own advice next year? Time will tell!

This old faithful variety that I grow myself is a wonderful deep burgundy with pink and darker burgundy markings on the leaves.

But what I like most about it is that it is a true shade coleus that I can use at the front of our house, which faces north. Another plus is that it does not try to flower during the summer, maintaining its attractive foliage all season.

Coleus have come a long way and there are now many coleus that take full sun. These are marvellous plants and in the spring, I cannot walk past a display of these plants without succumbing to temptation and buying a few.

I use them in mixed containers as accent plants and individually in smaller pots as specimen plants on my water garden bench on the back patio. A few I keep in the sunroom — in front of south-facing windows — because I show them in the fair and at our fall flower show in the potted plant classes.

Although these so-called “sun” coleus are perfectly able to withstand outdoor conditions and thrive in sunny spots, I know that outdoor conditions are not always ideal and once foliage is marked it cannot be unmarked.

That is why I keep my “exhibition” coleus indoors, which means that we also can enjoy them when we are relaxing in the sunroom.

Over the last few years, I have tried a variety of the sun coleus and I have loved every one of them. I had a spectacular variety called ‘Henna’ whose leaves — green on top and burgundy on the undersides — are deeply serrated; it performed well as a specimen in a large pot all summer. It is a rather large coleus, which makes it even more striking.

I really like the lime green varieties, such as ‘Electric Lime’, which has bright green leaves with lime green veining. This year I bought a lime green variety that is pure lime green with no markings on its leaves. It is one of the ‘Wizard’ series, which can be grown from seed.

Lime green coleus make great accent plants in containers or in beds and borders. The colour simply jumps out at you.

Burgundy is a popular coleus colour and I remember a couple of years ago a gardening friend bought a variety called ‘Fishnet Stockings’ that had lime green leaves with intricate burgundy veining. She won a few prizes with that plant during the growing season and the plant was a substantial size by fall.

Most of the sun coleus are self-branching and require no pinching to make them bushy. The only time that I pinch my sun coleus is if one of them begins to develop a flower spike; I pinch the bud out just above a leaf axil and soon new leaves sprout forth to hide the pinched stem.

There are some astonishingly vibrant colours available in sun coleus. Some of the most vibrant are the orange ones, such as ‘Rustic Orange’. Given the trend toward the use of hot colours in landscaping these days, I’m sure we will see many of these bright orange coleus in local gardens this summer.

Bright crimson-red is a hard colour to beat for its impact in the garden. I regularly include at least one ‘Kingswood Torch’ coleus in the plant display around my water feature on the back patio. It provides a vivid spot of colour amid the other plants that I display in that spot.

Many of the new sun coleus are grown from cuttings by the garden centres and are patented plants so propagation is prohibited.

There are some, however, that can be grown from seed, including the ‘Versa’ series as well as the ‘Wizards’. I bought some Wizard ‘Lime Green’ this year and I think they will be spectacular; their foliage is lime green shading to a bright gold.

Very dark, almost black coleus are also very striking. I couldn’t resist one called ColorBlaze ‘Dark Star’ this spring; it will become one of my exhibition plants. It is already a large plant so it should be quite stunning by mid-August.

Although sun coleus are sun tolerant, some are not heat tolerant and may burn or flag in a very hot location in mid-day. All coleus demand moist soil and are not drought tolerant, nor are they cold tolerant.

I will remind myself of that again next spring!

Albert Parsons is a consultant for garden design and landscaping who lives in Minnedosa.

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