Container Gardening: Coleus

Coleus

What can’t you do with coleus? It used to be that coleus were cute little colorful plants that grew in the shade. Now there is a coleus for nearly any light condition, in sizes from 6 inches to 3 feet tall, in a vast array of colors that includes deep purple, burgundy, orange, red, cream, yellow and lime green. They also come in upright, mounded or trailing varieties. When it comes to container gardening, this is pretty much the perfect plant.

Use coleus to tie together flowering plants and single color foliage plants, or to tie together two different colors of flowering plants. Use it to add color and texture to any container. The colorful foliage adds that extra pop to any container and breaks up the otherwise sea of green foliage.

Even containers planted with several of one variety of coleus is quite striking. Or really go wild and mix several varieties together (but make sure the colors all play off each other). What more can I say about this plant except this: coleus works hard so you don’t have to!