The Coleus Comes Back

Great-grandmother grew ribbon beds of coleus, carefully pinched to keep them from becoming uneven or straggly and never allowed to bloom.  Grandmother filled hanging baskets on the porch with Trailing Queen and grew a few handsome specimen plants in jardinieres here and there. Mother practically forgot coleus – she heard mealy bugs destroyed them, anyway, … Read more

Use Colorful Coleus For Bright Windows

Colorful Coleus

For those who like bright color combinations and a quickly-grown house plant, the coleus or painted nettle is an ideal choice.  Nothing is more startling than a bright window filled with them. Grown for their brilliant leaves, they have aptly named coleus, meaning “bright sheath.” The coleus, a shrubby annual or perennial herb of the … Read more