I feel so bad about it. Some of the girls do it so easily and here it is just impossible. It gets cold at night and hot in the day for a while and they do not like it. Most will die before the heat is needed. High humidity cold nights hot days is not a good formula for coleus. lol Or for that matter anything else. Then again it could be just me. shirleyt

Popping in to say a quick Hi! HI!!! We had a nasty storm move thru last night, we are on clean duty today. BUT the great news is the greenhouse stayed put this time....

Looks wonderful. The bad weather skirted us. Just a little rain. It is so beautiful today it hurts. I am going to hold off planting my coleus for a couple days. I need to make sure we do not have anymore cool weather.I have been cutting grass today. Having lawn mower problems with the push mower. I just cannot get all places with my big monster mower. shirleyt

Pheadra, that is gorgeous! I love the pond inside. We've always talked about that. My other half joking thought was to put the hot tub inside. Wouldn't that be nice!

Awesome weather for you Shirley. We are supposed to have the mid to high 60's all week with the exception of yesterday and now that is gone. LOL

Why is it that tools always seem to have some quirky break down? It seems that every time I have plans, something is missing or something breaks. Very irritating. Hope you get yours fixed.

My husband and 2 year old are off on errands so I'm heading to the greenhouse. I may never finish transplanting. haha

I didn't mean to be a thread killer.

Hahaha
You aren't. We are still getting things squared away over here in the new place.
Sidney

nah not a thread killer

Hi Everybody! Chele and Melissa got me really into Coleus a few years ago- they loaded me up with an amazing assortment of named beauties at a DG roundup. Until then, my experience had only been with the old fashioned, shade loving, seed grown bedding plants. Today's Coleus are amazing! For 2 or 3 years I had great luck taking cuttings each fall and growing them under lights, and always ran into the issues Karen is dealing with, but loved growing and keeping them. In February of '10 we had an ice storm that knocked our power out for 8 days. The room I had the Coleus in was unheated, but stayed warm enough for the plants with the light usage. Thinking back, I must have lost about 300 Coleus. All the other plants survived, but I hadn't gotten back into Coleus again until now. Chele, being the badseed enabler she is, informed me about Melissa's cutting order being split, so I'm back in the game!

Hi, Neil. I don't know how you took care of so many plants at once!

Karen

Glad to see people talking again. :P

LOL @ Neal! That is what I'm good at. I'm a plant pusher. hahahaha Seriously, I know you love them. Melissa had that one spot hanging and you immediately came to mind. Not sure why I didn't think of you earlier. Maybe I was selfishly holding out so I could bribe a summer visit out of you. GRINS

Neal is the container king! You should see photos of his containers and gardens (if you haven't). Of course I've seen his wedding flowers and floral arrangements too. Awesome!

Sugar, you are getting settled or cubits is getting settled? Sure wish I could come down and take a boat ride with you. Or you could come see me again.

Karen, I was unemployed, so the plants were my full time job, LOL! Since I'm working again, I've cut back considerably on my gardening projects, and am trying to streamline everything so that I can keep up with it all this summer.

Thanks, Chele! My containers should be extra awesome this year! The back deck, where I grow most of the coleus, is under a big, old, water Maple that has roots everywhere. It makes for a difficult dry shady area, where most annuals can't get enough water, so they all go into pots.

I was telling a friend about my Coleus cuttings the other day, and she was unsure what they were, so I googled Coleus to show her some pics. I looked at the Wikipedia info, and was surprised to see a heading saying "Psychoactivity", followed by step by step instructions to make a hallucinogenic tea! I'd never heard of that! I'll be sure not to inform my college age friends of this- the poor Coleus would stay defoliated, LOL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...

Neil, don't worry about collage age friends, but Silver Hippies, or new Boomer Hippies. LOL (Loved the links)
I'm just going to grow all I can this summer in Okeechobee, Fl.
Maybe down here in S. Fl., I can get them through the winter.
Gebhart's took my $91.00 today so I expect to see those darlings soon.
I'm glad you got to meet Chele and her clan. If they lived closer I'd claim them all as grand younguns.

Chele, I wish I had a 4 or 5 bdrm Motor Coach, so y'all could come down. Most of the 'Snow birds' have gone back north now. Maybe a reasonable rental if you're serious.
I may get up there again. I'm looking at http://cgi .ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220767906748&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
or http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...
Need a small traveling car.
Sorry I got off topic. Talk to you soon Chele.
Sidney

Oh right, the silver hippies- got plenty of friends who fit that description too. Better just keep my mouth shut about the "medicinal" qualities of Coleus altogether, LOL!

Sidney, are you considering trying to overwinter some Coleus outside? How cold does it get there?

Sorry I disappeared and I'm about to do it again. Run, run as fast as you can. Waaaaah.

I'll come back and kill the thread later. LOL

Well, I'm in the middle of the bottom of south Florida. They did have a freeze or two these last two years.
I call Lake Okeechobee the 'Blue Collar Riviera',
We are just about shed of the Snow Birds!
I might also get a small greenhouse.
I am in a RV Resort where I am regulated as to what I can have size wise.
I know Happy who lives in Ft Lauderdale has them year round.



LOL Chele, you just can't kill a good thing.
Sidney

Just got back from a week in Perdido Key. I had planted my coleus before I left and was worried about how they would do with out watering. I was surprised to see they were fine for the week. Sugarweed we have decided you need to come over to be with us for part of our 18 day visit to Dunedin. You need a vaca from all that work getting settled. If you want we can settle on time closer to our timeline in June. See what your schedule is like. We have two bedroom condo right on the beach. You can have your own room and chill or run around as you like. Fun Fun Fun. I like to chill Sandy likes to run around. We hit a happy medium.lol This is the one I have picked for the feature coleus of the deck.Look how much they have grown.

two more. I will plant the babies directly into the front of the house garden in another week. such fun.

Shirley,
I am definitely thinking that would be fun.
I'll e, c, or d-mail you.
I am in week five of company.
I will be here by myself come next Tuesday.
Love those who are visiting, but after a week fish and company begin to stink!
Sidney

I'm glad YOU said that Sugar! I was thinking FIVE WEEKS??? Better start charging rent or stop being such a good hostess.

Happy Mothers day to all! Love ya!