Flower Gardening

Color Your Garden with Coleus

By Jean Starr

My Favorite Varieties of Coleus

I’ve enjoyed growing nearly two dozen different varieties of coleus over the past three seasons. Some, like ‘Fishnet Stockings’ and ‘Inky Fingers’ I’ve grown several times because their combination of lime and deep purple appeal to me.

Fishnet Stockings

One variety that always finds its way into my cart is ‘Fishnet Stockings’. With its precise lines of burgundy coursing through large chartreuse leaves, it never fails to catch my eye. It’s a large plant (to 30”), and mixes well with anything sporting deep red flowers.

Wasabi

The name ‘Wasabi’ says it all—bright and hot and a shade of chartreuse that never fails to attract attention. Add deeply serrated edges on its leaves and it’s hard for any coleus fan to do without it. Plant a stand of Gomphrena ‘Fireworks’ in front of it and it will add excitement to your garden all season long.

Marooned

ColorBlaze ‘Marooned’ can be your go-to choice for deep, rich, velvety, solid red foliage. It’s one of the tallest of the bunch, as it can reach three feet in height, but its slender, scalloped foliage. This cultivar cries out for companions in pale to bright pink to bring out its mahogany hues.

Campfire

‘Campfire’ is a large upright cultivar that falls into the deep orange category. Everything about it is big, and it demands lots of space. Its nearly solid-colored leaves love to be paired with variegated green and cream foliage and coral-colored flowers.

Saturn

‘Saturn’ is a stunner, and as the weather heats up, it will show why it was given its name. Electric yellow-green forms a line down the center of each leaf, and is surrounded by a wide ring of deep red. And to give it a little extra character, small, irregular spots of the same green stipple the red trim. It’s an upright grower that seldom passes 24-inches in height.

Inky Fingers

‘Inky Fingers’ has a lot going for it. Labeled a “duckfoot” variety, its deep purple and bright green leaves are heavily scalloped. It’s a mounding coleus that makes a great filler that will cascade around the outside of a container or spread at a height of around 18-inches in the ground.

Trailing Plum

‘Trailing Plum’ makes the perfect subject for hanging baskets and as cascading color for containers. Its small leaves contain purple with a luminescent band of plum at the outside edge. You have to be a little careful about the amount of sun this foot-tall plant gets—it likes just enough to give it the best color but not enough to burn its leaves. This variety is also known as ‘Swinging Linda’, ‘Meandering Linda’ or ‘Trailing Plum Brocade’.

Coleosaurus

‘Coleosaurus’ is a different animal in the sun than it is in partial shade. It’s beautiful in either location. Give it plenty of sun (and water) and it will be bright chartreuse and deep red. In partial shade, where I grow it, it will be bright lime green and burgundy, not unlike ‘Fishnet Stockings’ but with much more detail. It is a big and burly plant, and goes beautifully with deep red Pelargonium.

Marrakesh

In Lonely Planet’s introduction to Marrakesh, the city, Jessica Lee writes that “it fizzes with life.” ‘Marrakesh’ the coleus does the same thing. It’s got a lot going on, from its tri-lobed leaves that sometimes throw in a few extra scallops to its random-patterned ruby and chartreuse coloration, you might think it would be over-the-top busy. But it works. It also has a great habit—very compact, each 12”-16” stem loaded with leaves.

Yellow Dragon

Be careful combining ‘Yellow Dragon’ with other plants. It’s considered a miniature—slow-growing and topping out at around 10 inches. Its narrow yellow leaves are deeply scalloped and trimmed with a narrow red edge. This little cutie is a candidate for growing indoors, and in a mixed container, should be combined with other small, non-aggressive plants.

Heuchera

If you have trouble growing Heuchera, or think you have too much sun for coleus, give them another try. While they don’t enjoy the same conditions as succulents, they prefer not to be relegated to the same situation as Impatiens.