Not Your Mother's Coleus
For the longest time, I couldn't tolerate coleus in my garden. My mother always grew coleus and started zillions of them from cuttings that were placed all over the windowsills. To me, they all looked the same, year after year, always that purple color, with the frilly colored edge.
In recent years, however, there's been a revolution in coleus growing, and if you haven't already succumbed to all the new varieties, you should definitely take another look. In his new book Coleus: Rainbow Foliage for Containers and Gardens (Timber Press, 2008), author Ray Rogers illustrates why coleus is the perfect filler plant -- for indoors and outdoors, for containers and garden beds, for perfect combinations with many other plants.
One of my favorite coleus cultivars has a dark burgundy leaf with a chartreuse edge. In a container with the chartreuse sweet potato vine, or in a garden bed next to a gold-leafed hosta, they are absolutely stunning. Rogers lists at least nine of these "red with green edge" coleus. He lists 14 "red with yellow edge," others that are "mostly yellow," orange or green (and many other colors). In addition, he notes the cultivars with lovely duckfoot, twisted, or elongated leaves. Other new coleus have tiny leaves that contrast beautifully with larger-leafed types and trail over the edges of beds and containers.
Magnificent color photographs by Richard Hartlage illustrate exactly how coleus can complement a planting of red barberry, Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum,' or be trained into a standard rising above a container full of geraniums.
These new types of coleus are not always easy to find, so you may have to seek them out at special nurseries or plant sales. I always buy several different kinds at the annual plant sale at the US National Arboretum in Washington DC. If you haven't found a source in your neighborhood, this book is a terrific guide to all the new types of coleus on the market. And it will open your mind to the great joy of an annual that's absolutely invaluable throughout the summer.
(click on image to purchase book)
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