Coleus in a Strawberry Pot

I have loved Coleus ever since I saw it growing on a window sill in a friend's New York apartment three decades ago. This strawberry pot full of several varieties of Coleus started out looking pretty sparse, but now, at the end of July, the colorful leaves have almost buried the pot. Best of all, every so often I'll snap off a nice size cutting, let it root in water in the kitchen window, and I have the start of a whole new pot. I planted some little flowerpots with coleus starts last fall and brought them inside when the nights started getting cool. They provided nice spots of color in a sunny window all winter long. I should have taken them outside this spring though because they finally withered and faded. But not before I saved cuttings from those plants for my summer pots. It's a nice "vicious" circle. I did learn the hard way, though, that Coleus doesn't like the cold. Also, even though the plant does develop spikes of tiny lavender flowers, if I pinch the spikes off as soon as they appear, the plant gets bushier and does better.

1 comment :

Kerri said...

Thanks for linking my blog to yours! It's always nice to "meet" new blog friends :)
Your gardens are gorgeous! I'd love to have my roses looking like yours do in that top photo..I especially love pink roses!
We visited The Cornell Plantations gardens on Saturday while in Ithaca. They use coleus so beautifully in combination with other plants. It's a real inspiration and education and a truly delightful place! I'll get around to posting pictures someday soon, I hope.
That little Flamefower Rock Rose is so pretty. I'll have to look that one up.