Spend $50 Now and Have Dramatic Plants by the Fourth of July

Wall Street Journal

04-04-2025

If you've already befriended coleus, you might think of it as a stalwart plant that ushers color—typically a bit of red and green—into your yard's shadiest corners. But that's not the extent of these leafy tropicals' skills. Breeders have been toying with shapes, patterns, colors and light needs, and like a pigeonholed actor, coleus is poised for its big break in the sun.
'Coleus is one of the most versatile plants you can use in a container garden, and today's options include sun and part-sun tolerance,' said Sue Amatangelo, a gardening author and speaker in Aiken, S.C. Translation: You can take advantage of coleus's value proposition whether your planters face a shadowy north or a sun-roasted south.
Plant three coleus, typically sold for $7-$11 in 4½-inch containers, in a 10-inch wide pot in early May, and by Independence Day, the group will have unfurled into a mound of foliage that conceals any potting soil. 'They're a great value,' said Catherine Trudeau, partner at Outside Design Studio. Her landscape-architecture firm drafts the species to green up public plazas, mixed-use spaces and homes around Chicago. 'Lots of more-expensive plants will stay more or less the same size they were when you got them, but by the end of the summer, coleus looks like a shrub,' she said, comparing coleus to pricey heuchera or foxtail fern, which can run $19 a plant.
While you can still find 'garden variety' coleus—usually variegated with some combination of red and green—dogged breeders are developing new leaf shapes, sexier textures and brighter colors. Garden designers are partial to 'wasabi,' introduced by Ball FloralPlant in 2012 and beloved for its consistently solid chartreuse color. Plant it near purple and red varieties and its vibrant, deeply lobed leaves will throw them into relief. And while most examples of the species top out between 18 and 25 inches, wasabi can grow to a strapping 3 feet.
Heeding gardeners' calls for rosier hues, Ball released FlameThrower 'adobo pink' this year. Its spear-shaped leaves, burgundy with fuchsia centers, pretty accurately resemble its fire-breathing namesake. Other new variegations include spots, swirls, ruffles and contrasting edges: Lime green dots, for instance, rim the velvety brown leaves of Pan-American Seed's 'chocolate mint.' But coleus needn't be flashy. You might mistake the deep purple of Proven Winners' ColorBlaze 'newly noir' for black.
Seasoned container gardeners know the 'thriller, filler, and spiller' formula to create vibrant arrangements. If you worry you lack the eye to artfully organize plants of different colors and fluctuating sizes within one container, here's counsel from Amatangelo. Start with same-colored pots of varying size. Fill each with a single variety of coleus (sometimes called monocropping or monoculture). Group the pots to create an effect similar to planting the different varieties in a single container. The benefit: You can rearrange the individual varieties without disturbing their roots.
Alternatively, stick with a single variety in pots of different heights. In terms of scale, Bridget Schroeder, owner of Chicago's Contained Garden, aims to ensure the height of a mature plant doesn't exceed 1½ times that of the planter.
Though famously easy to care for, coleus does need moisture. You'll want containers that drain easily, but avoid unglazed terracotta, which will pull water away from the plant. Don't wait for coleus to droop from dehydration before slaking its thirst. If you do, it will spring back to life when watered, but the stress will cause a few leaves to give up the ghost, sacrificing some of the plant's lusciousness.
Make life easier by using potting soil with a slow-release fertilizer mixed in. Alternatively, you can maximize growth with a monthly feeding of a balanced 10-10-10 fertilizer. When your plants' underwhelming, spiky flowers appear, pinch them off to encourage bushiness.
Many varieties of coleus grow more intense in color when exposed to stronger light. Others fade. You'll find lots of vital info such as sun and shade tolerance on nursery tags or online descriptions. Look there, too, for the heights of mature plants.