Fashionably Flashy

Dappled, ruffled, brilliant and bold, colorful coleus are in

NATURALISM AND sustainability are the biggest trends in gardening — and then there's the rage for coleus. This loudly patterned and gussied up annual reeks of conservatories and lady's petticoats — just the opposite of eco-gardening. But when Wells Medina Nursery recently had a party to celebrate its new coleus collection, it sold out. People clambered to join fellow fanciers in ogling all the new hybrids. Coleus are easy to propagate, and their soft leaves are such a canvas for experiment that breeders have gone kind of crazy. If coleus was a punk, it'd be tattooed, pierced and flaunting an orange mohawk all at the same time. Proudly.

"They're wild, they're just wild colors," says Lisa Freed, co-owner of Wells Medina, and the person behind the nursery's coleus extravaganza. "What's so fun about coleus is there are so many new ones it never gets dull — and it doesn't seem to be slowing down." Wells Medina carries more than 50 varieties. Seeing tables filled with so many patterns, puckers, mottles, spots, streaks and splashes gives the impression of being undersea — surely this must be coral or anemones or maybe even those impossibly brilliant tropical fish? Nope, it's the new cool annual, in all its bravado.

Botanically, coleus are Solenostemon scutellarioides, and are in the mint family. Highly prized during Victorian times, then fashionable again in the 1940s and '50s, many of the more exotic coleus were bred in Japan, where complex variegation is most appreciated. I find that very odd when I think of the simple serenity of Japanese gardens, but centuries of patient breeding have gone into making coleus what they are today.

Coleus are easy to grow with plenty of water and fertilizer. Some of the hugest ones I've seen were dosed weekly with half-strength liquid fertilizer. Freed has two tips for growing good coleus. The first one, hardest of all for gardeners, is to just wait . . . until at least early June when nights have warmed up consistently to 50 degrees. Coleus planted outside too early languish in the spring chill, sulk, and are set back for weeks, or they shrivel up and wilt away. If you let the nursery keep them cozy at night at least through May, they'll bulk right up in the garden once the soil warms.

Freed's second tip is to pinch out flower buds as soon as they develop, keeping coleus bushy rather than leggy. If allowed to bloom and go to seed, the coleus will have completed its life cycle and die. Keep your coleus perpetually young by pinching back.

Coleus take to pot culture, where the soil is rich and the watering regular. Plus they seem to look best contained, held up and shown off like gemstones. Since many coleus are a color scheme all by themselves, stuffing several of the same variety into a pot is often showy enough. Or choose colors that accent permanent plantings, such as cuffing a yellow Monterey cypress with sunset-orange 'Sedona' or maybe echo the cypress' color with chartreuse 'Pineapple Queen.' Just think of what kind of summer-long sizzle you could create with a simple pairing of impatiens and coleus, both of which inspire color play and enjoy afternoon shade.

Freed suggests not limiting yourself to coleus in containers. She mixes them into her perennial borders, too. She plants Coleus 'Gold Bound' under Canna pretoria, with its fat yellow-and-green-striped leaves. Around the base of purple smoke bushes she dabs Coleus 'Kingswood Torch,' which has magenta leaves overlaid in orange and burgundy. Coleus 'Inky Fingers' is subtle for a coleus with chartreuse leaves trimmed in chocolate. It looks great used as trim around stepping stones or even in rock walls, where its small, scalloped leaves brighten yet blend with the stone.

For a photo tour of 275 coleus cultivars from 'Alligator' to 'Zebra' that left me amazed and newly hankering after coleus, visit the Web page at www.glasshouseworks.com/gallery2.html.

Valerie Easton is a Seattle free-lance writer and contributing editor for Horticulture magazine. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net.