The Coolness of Coleus

I was 12 years old when I started noticing plants. It was 1972, I was a Girl Scout and our troop was learning to macramé. We each learned how to make a macramé plant hanger, replete with wooden beads and a long tail that nearly touched the floor. My hanger absolutely had to have a plant, one that would do well indoors in my shadowy bedroom. I started noticing my friends were growing a variety of classic houseplants: wandering Jews (Tradescantia albiflora), spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum), coleuses (Solenostemon scutellarioides). I tried rooting cuttings in a glass of water on my bedroom windowsill. Success was mine! That goofy macramé hanger held a variegated spider plant for at least a decade, through my college years. My roommate and I shared the plantlets. Good times.

Alas, the spider plants and the macramé hanger went the way of beanbag chairs and bell-bottom jeans. I simplified, cleared the ceiling of plant hangers and took my interest to outdoor plants. But I’ve been kind of thrilled to see a plant from those years has returned, better than ever. How cool is it to see coleus at the nurseries again? I’m smitten.

These newer varieties are bigger, more dramatic, and — depending on foliage color — thrive in sun or partial shade. What beautiful foliage it is: deep burgundy, bright fuchsia, acid green, nearly black, gold, brown, rust, big smooth leaves, smaller frilly leaves. According to Sunset, these plants are easy to start from seed or cuttings. Sunset also suggests pinching off the frilly purple flower spires. Pffft, I say to that; honeybees visit those flowers, which is always a good thing.

For a few years in a row, I’ve potted several coleuses in a corner of dappled shade near our front door. They behave like annuals in my yard, succumbing to the inevitable cold snaps we have in December or January. But they can be maintained as tender perennials, if you’re willing to bring them indoors in late fall. Maybe even put them in your old macramé plant hanger?

Colorful, beautiful coleus. (photo by Kathy Thomas-Rico)