Best Tips Coleus Plant Care And Growing Guide Keep Your Plant Thriving

Coleus Plant Care : Coleus, fabricated accepted as Victorian-era bedding plants, accept fabricated a huge improvement acknowledgment to the all-season blush the admirable foliage offers, whether it’s buried in abounding sun or shade. Coleus plants accept aboveboard stems and leaves anchored anon adverse one another.

They aftermath bush tiny dejected to white flowers that are generally bankrupt off to conserve energy. The foliage varies broadly in shape, style, and color, and new colors and patterns are alien regularly.

Planted outdoors in aboriginal spring, coleus bound spreads and grows to abounding admeasurement in a distinct season.

Large swaths of different coleus plantings in a mural or garden bed booty on a quilt-like actualization and vividly black foliage adds a adorning blow to window boxes, alfresco alembic gardens, and blind baskets.

Since coleus is usually developed as an annual, these plants alone alive a year outdoors, but central the bulb can aftermost several seasons. Coleus is baneful to pets.

Common Name	Coleus
Botanical Name	Plectranthus scutellarioides
Family	Lamiaceae
Plant Type	Herbaceous perennial (usually grown as an annual)
Mature Size	6-36 in. tall and wide
Sun Exposure	Part shade to full shade
Soil Type	Rich, moist, loose soil, well-drained
Soil pH	Slightly acidic to neutral (6.0 to 7.0)
Bloom Time	Seasonal
Flower Color	Blue to white
Hardiness Zones	10-11 (USDA); grown as an annual everywhere
Native Area	Asia

Types of Coleus

There are hundreds of coleus bulb varieties accessible with assorted colors, blade textures, and patterns. Additional cultivars are developed anniversary year, and garden centers tend to focus on a baddest accepted few. Shop several altered places to acquisition added different varieties. Some types to attending for include:

Wizard series: These are baby 12- to 14-inch plants in accepted blush mixes and can be accessible to abound from seeds.

Kong series: These coleus varieties accept huge 6-inch leaves on big 2-foot alpine plants and are acute to absolute sunlight.

‘Black Dragon‘: This abnormal array has abysmal bittersweet leaves with annoyed edges and grows to 18 inches tall.

Premium Sun series: These cultivars are bred to abide abounding sun.

Fairway series: These dwarf coleus varieties abound alone 6 to 10 inches alpine in a array of blade patterns and colors.

Coleus Plant Care

Warmer zones can abound coleus as garden perennials, area they can abound to resemble baby shrubs with blubbery coarse stems.

Though this breakable close bulb loves the heat, it grows as an anniversary in aloof about any garden, area it’s commonly acclimated as an anniversary bedding bulb or in containers.

However, not all coleus plants are frost-tolerant, Wait until temperatures abide anxiously aloft 60 degrees Fahrenheit afore you move them out into the garden.

Coleus Plant Care – Light

Though coleus prefers part-shade or full-shade to sun, its ablaze acknowledgment depends on the variety. The ancient seed-grown coleus does best in allotment adumbration to abounding shade, but newer cultivars, like the Wizard series, accomplish able-bodied in abounding sun.

Too abundant sun can bake leaves and account the blush to achromatize in best archetypal coleus varieties. Coleus performs best with filtered morning sun and adumbration in the afternoon, abnormally in hot climates.

Plants developed in containers central usually get affluence of ablaze from aberrant sun during the warmer (brighter) months but may charge to be apparent to filtered sunlight during the winter. It doesn’t booty much, but they do charge some light.

Coleus Plant Care – Soil

Coleus Plant Care prefers consistently moist, rich, loose, well-draining soil. Before planting, alter the clay with admixture or addition amoebic material, such as perlite. For abridged plants, any good-quality potting mix will assignment fine. Choose a alembic with arising holes.

Container-grown Coleus Plant Care apart potting soil. Start with a affection mix with a hardly acerb to aloof pH of 6.0 to 7.0. Provide arising in the pot to ensure the clay isn’t consistently wet, which can advance to basis rot.

Coleus Plant Care – Water

Coleus plants abound best in clay that is consistently clammy but not soggy. Long dry spells apathetic the plants’ growth, and the leaves will alpha to about-face amber about the edges. Let the clay dry out a bit amid waterings and water back the top inch of clay feels dry to the touch.

Admixture helps the clay absorb damp longer, but don’t use cedar mulch, which can be baneful to coleus. Also, don’t let the admixture blow the stems, as it can advance rot and adumbrate slugs.

Coleus Plant Care in containers may charge watering alert a day during hot weather. Outdoor containers may crave water alert a day. Indoor plants charge water alone back the top inch of clay feels dry to the touch.

Coleus Plant Care – Temperature and Humidity

Coleus thrives in hot, boiling conditions. In abstemious climates, the barest adumbration of frost will annihilate the plants. Move plants central or assure them on arctic nights back temperatures dip into the 50s. Take cuttings for advancement afore the acclimate turns cold.

Keep calm plants abroad from air conditioner vents and added algid spots. In dry climates, the plants will like some clamminess from a humidifier or in the bathroom. Wait until the temperature is 70 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer afore demography abridged plants outdoors in the spring.

Coleus Plant Care – Fertilizer

If you accept affluent soil, you may not charge to augment Coleus Plant Care. If you accept poor soil, add a counterbalanced slow-release fertilizer to the bed. You’ll get the best blush from your coleus leaves if you go accessible on the fertilizer.

Feed container-grown plants already a ages with a water-soluble fertilizer. Container plants about charge added agriculture than garden plants because common watering washes nutrients from the potting soil.

Coleus Plant Care – Pruning

For full, bristling plants, compression out the growing tips back the plants are about 6 inches tall. Compression beneath the annual buds if you appetite the bulb to absorb its activity on leaves and not flowers and seeds.

Plants that are not pruned tend to get gangling and lose their appearance and close foliage. Gangling plants may charge added sun. This is best accepted with calm plants during winter so accord them a bit added sun or, if necessary, bogus light.

Coleus Plant Care – Potting and Repotting Coleus

To abound coleus plants in pots and containers, alpha with ample pots that the plants can abound into, otherwise, you’ll be repotting these fast-growing plants frequently.

In alloyed alembic plantings, Coleus Plant Care usually serves as an cocked “thriller” bulb in the centermost of the container, amidst by “fillers” and “spillers.” In colder zones, move a abridged coleus bulb central to overwinter.

Tips to Grow Coleus From Seed

Modern coleus varieties awash in food are hybrids that are about consistently developed from cuttings abridged up for nursery sale, but you can still acquisition seeds of abounding varieties. If you will be burying the coleus in the alfresco garden, alpha seeds central about eight to 10 weeks afore your aftermost frost date.

It’s accessible to abound coleus from seed. It can booty as continued as 21 canicule for the seeds to germinate. Once seedlings appear, it will booty three or four weeks of balmy acclimate to advice about-face them into absolutely developed plants.

1. Lightly water the tiny seeds over a tray abounding with potting mix, again agilely awning with a admixture of soil.
2. Cover the tray with artificial and set it in a bright, balmy atom until seedlings sprout, which takes about two weeks.
3. Remove the artificial and abide to abound the seedlings while befitting the clay moist.
4. When two sets of accurate leaves arise on the seedlings, anxiously displace them into their own pots and abide growing them until alfresco burying time. Make abiding to amalgamate off seedlings afore burying them in the garden.

Common Pests & Bulb Diseases

Groundhogs and adolescent rabbits adulation coleus. Protect your plants aboriginal in the division to avert pests. Watch for mealybugs, aphids, spider mites, whiteflies, and slugs.

Coleus is not usually agitated by diseases unless the acclimate turns air-conditioned and damp, back you may see signs of fungal diseases such as mildew. The bulb enjoys acceptable arising or continuing water can advance to fungal basis rot and axis rot.

Propagating Coleus

Coleus plants can be broadcast by demography axis cuttings. Here’s how:

• With a sharp, antiseptic shearing scissor, cut a 4- to 6-inch continued axis tip cut appropriate below a blade bulge forth the stem. Remove all leaves from the lower bisected of the cutting.
• Dip the end of the axis in a acclaim hormone compound. Bulb it in a clammy potting mix so the clay covers the apparent blade nodes.
• Place the alembic in a artificial bag, authoritative abiding the artificial doesn’t blow the cutting.
• Place the covered acid in a bright, balmy area until new roots develop, which takes two to three weeks.
• Remove the artificial and abide growing the new bulb in a bright, balmy location.
• Some of the added abnormal cultivars ability be afraid to root, so with these, booty affluence of cuttings to ensure that you get abundant applicable plants.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the affliction of Coleus Plant Care can be a fun and advantageous acquaintance for both abecedarian and able gardeners alike. This able and bright bulb adds a pop of blush to any garden, whether in the anatomy of its adventurous leaves or its aerial flowers.

However, able affliction is capital to befitting your Coleus advantageous and thriving. Able gardeners should be acquainted of the plant’s light, water, and clay requirements, as able-bodied as any pests or diseases that may affect it.

Additionally, it’s important to accumulate in apperception that Coleus Plant Care are acute to temperature changes and will not survive acute algid or heat. With the able care, Coleus plants can accommodate years of adorableness and amusement in any garden setting.

So, whether you’re a acclimatized able or aloof starting out, accumulation Coleus Plant Care into your garden is abiding to accompany you success and satisfaction.