Mine did fine in the unheated porch all winter, Allison.

Thanks..There is one vent in there.. time will tell

My adult daughter's former room (she moved out on her own) has become the coleus nursery, though I don't have as many cuttings as some of you. Several are rooted in dirt but many are in water only. The plan: use the red and lime green foliage to accent Christmas decorations at party later in December. Also someone at my church brought in the tallest coleus I've ever seen and have it in huge pot next to window. I rescued it with some water last week when it threatened to dry out. I'm thinking I may also claim some real estate there with a large planter that I have mixed coleus and other tropical. It grows on my front porch in warm seasons but I don't have anywhere indoors that's safe from the cats. So off to church it goes, hopefully it will make it through winter.

This is the one someone dumped st church, picture doesn't show how tall it is, at least 4.5 feet.

Wow pretty

Judy,

I got that this summer from my local nursery and I love it.. They only carried two coleus this year. It is one that looks so completely different depending on light.

Most coleus change from different light but that one really does some strange things. I had it in deep shade and it was totally just pink and bright yellow. In the sun the yellow faded to white and the dark green showed up and the the pink was gone.

It seems to be the best one that has survived the move indoors.

Amazing how light does change some

The coleus pot in the picture is at least 3 different plants growing in the pot, lol. I was referring to the tallest one in the photo. It's still going strong, very Sunday I water it and still haven't found out who owns it. Recruited some other plant lovers to tend it this Sunday because today we arrive in Disneyworld! First time I've gone on vacation on a holiday, have our adult children with us and ready for a fun day!

The tall one looks like 'Indian Summer.' Have a blast at Disney!

I'm a little late (just by a few months) but you can't blame me for blowing up the coleus forum just now while here in Texas we have been experiencing spring-like weather since late January! I've been moving my coleus plants outside every day to get maximum sun and heat and usually bring them inside before it gets too late.

Judy, any word on how the church coleus is doing? The tall stalk variety is actually called stormy weather and usually puts out dark greens and maroon until exposed to full and long sunny days where the bright yellow and bright red layers start to pop out!

Hope you Northerners can start getting some warmer weather and growing more coleus soon, I love seeing pictures and hearing/reading everything about the plant!

The tall coleus at church is still growing in a window. And I did take a small cutting that is rooted and sending out new growth. By April I should be growing it on porch outdoors, our Sourhern Spring is coming soon!

After this past week.. I am jealous over your warmth Matt

There's no bad time to be excited about Coleus, IMVHO!

I'm having some instances of not being able to live up to what I said. Lost a few jars due to not noticing they were out of water. I intended to split some of them up more, so they wouldn't dry so fast like that but I didn't. A fail on my part, not the plants. And a few cuttings stuck in pots have gotten too dry & turned to hard sticks. I think there's still some of each kind but some of 'em look so funky by now, I'm not sure what they are until they go back outside & look normal again. I wasn't expecting to let jars dry out but the rest is as expected from trying to save such a high number of stems in many not-ideal spots and pots. I will do it again though. Each stem was gorgeous for a few more weeks that way, and some of both the survivors and fails have surprised me.

It's also warm enough here many days to have the windows open and take plants out for a drink. I have a blast taking them out there, watering, inspecting. Then it's time to bring them back in & I hate that. LOL! But since I'd have had to carry them to the bathroom for a drink if not outside, it's much easier & faster overall.

Here's some pics from a couple days ago. Both 'Indian Summer'. Funky how different they are, from diff amounts of light.

I have four main varieties of coleus (so far)


This first one ^ (name unknown) is the reason I got started with Coleus. My grandmother who I love dearly cut me off a stem of this back in April of 2014! Her words were to simply place it in a cup of water and leave it by a windowsill. Prior to this I had no experience with plants, only a fascination. I left this plant in water for almost 6 months admiring the long roots growing in the water. ( Like I said, I didnt know how to plant anything, I knew nothing about soil or pots or even what kind of plant I had! Much less did I know that I shouldn't leave it in water for 6 months like I did.) At one point I placed a small insect into the water and watched over weeks as the roots grabbed hold of the insect and eventually broke it down and gathered nutrients I imagine. Eventually I tried planting this plant but because my lack of knowledge I had put it in gardening soil in a pot so it wasnt taking off. I cut off the top and placed it back in water. Come March 2015 I started researching more about potting soil and potted it correctly this time. Gave it two weeks and the roomates cat had demolished it. I came home and was devasted....back to a bottle of water it went! The cat almost killed it another two times... by this time (around June 2015) I had found out it was a coleus plant and was learning more about it altogether. Needless to say, something was keeping this one simple plant alive, either my love for my grandma or the insect it got strength from I am not one to say but since then I have nothing but love for this beautiful plant. I call it the Matriarch, the beginning of my craze for coleus

We all learn best from experience even if we lose a few as we're learning.

So true.. I know I always learn something. . Every year

Loved reading your exploits, Matt!

Yes, I continue to learn too! I learned that if I leave too many stems in 1 jar/bottle, I'm not going to keep it watered as often as it dries out. Going to try to remember to start saving bigger jars sooner too.

I've said it before and I didn't listen to myself, don't wait until after too many nights in the 40's to take cuttings. The last batch ones were most of the fails (aside from drying jars.) A frost IS coming, don't deny it. It's just so hard to decide "now is the time to cut all of this up."

Cuttings in jars or bottles never fail to disappoint me so it's potting them up that works perfectly and it's easier to keep them watered, though they don't need much water over winter. Even in a very sunny window I water once a week and they thrive.

You are so right about not waiting too long to take cuttings. I get it done in about three sessions - a good job for when you're tired of the bending, digging, weeding, etc. It's very relaxing to me.

Zen for sure.. good therapy for me

This was the first fall I tried to take coleus cuttings. I took one cutting from each of the two coleus we had , rooted them in water , planted them in potting soil and watched them both turn to dry sticks. Thankfully one of the plants self seeded in my ruttya pot and I still have two healthy babies from the one coleus.


I also started a few rainbow mix coleus seeds from a 6 year old store bought sealed seed pack I dug up. Six of them have sprouted so far ,
only five in picture , last one sprout since I took the picture.
hopefully they will all survive and I will have a decent variety of colors and kinds.