The Wonderful World of Coleus

Here is a great display of coleus (now called Solenostemon scutellarioides - doesn't that roll off the tongue nicely). Another photo of the snow outside would be pretty, but today I'm turning my attention to my light table and the coleus cuttings I took last year. If you like the look of this photo, you think like I do - you can never have too many varieties or colours of this great plant.

Every year I pick a few of my favourites that I've grown in the garden, cut a few stems off, then stick them in a couple of pots filled with moist potting mix. I'll put the pots inside a couple of plastic bags and zip them shut. As soon as I've got good roots after a couple of weeks, I'll take them out of the plastic bag and treat them rather cruelly for the next 4 months or so - watering when I remember. It is about this time in February that I get serious about propagating more, so I'll begin to fertilize with water soluable fertilizer so that they'll start to really grow. Once I have nicely bulked up plants, I'll whack off a bunch of stems and root them. These cuttings will be ready to plant and a good size for my pots by the second week of May. Added to these old favourities will no doubt be a few new special coleus that I'll find at the garden centres. It's only a matter of time, until I have a lovely colourful display like this one.