I miss keeping coleus plants. It was always my favorite thing to get first from a nursery at the start of spring--they are super colorful, easy to care for, and they grow really fast. They are also one of the most affordable plants. I had much better luck growing them outdoors than indoors, but that was part of the fun. Light gardening became one of my favorite past times about 3-4 years ago... I never planted stuff in the ground, just in pots. But I would spend the time out on my front lawn while I repotted house plants or worked on my outdoor pots. When I really had my coleus collection going, I would visit them every day to prune and fuss. I was trying to grow a standard coleus--that's when the plant is shaped into a tree, and eventually the main stalk gets so strong, it's like a really tall bush.

One of my favorite coleus varieties had tiny leaves with curly outgrowths--looking very much like a fantasy version of an underwater tree. The colors come out best in the sun. The curly one had deep magenta on the inside of the leaf, and the curls were defined in chartreuse.

One of my favorite sets of pots were all plants with black leaves--they are not really black, but deep, deep purple and red. I had a black coleus and some other plants. I never had any problems with insects because I paid such close attention to them.

But they are pretty sensitive to change and I didn't manage the seasonal switch to winter very well. I eventually lost every coleus when I brought it indoors for winter. That was frustrating, and sad, since they were my little friends, but it's all a learning experience and it helps me to try it again differently sometime. Next time I try to grow them, I will only grow them indoors since I am in a colder region. I'll try kind of a tropical/hothouse type indoor growing technique.

2018-03-05, 12:55 p.m.

Pre., Nex.

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