I'm glad I found this forum.. I posted a topic about some cuttings my mother gave me and received the help I needed..
Matter of fact since I have discovered Coleus.. I am no longer so disappointed that my climate is not the best for growing Hosta. I have quite of few plants of different families, but I am sitting here envisioning my covered patios overflowing with Coleus!!
Am I crazy or what?
New to Coleus
No, you have just been bitten by the "Coleus" bug.
I think hostas are highly over-rated. Right up there with lawns.
Karen
Thanks skwinter, I really needed to hear that!! I'm pretty excited about it.
Karen, You just made that last little bit of tear go away! I really wanted to grow them, but now I'm over it. Coleus it is.
Try what you find in your area greenhouses. Using this source makes a pretty good chance that they will like your area. Then try some others. In a year or so you will find the half dozen or so that please you and will do well in your climate and on your patio. Don't count on catalog baloney to be right. They try but just hard enough to bait your dollar into their cash register. As you develop your likenesses along the way there will be some out right disapointments.
Last year I tried to move a few two zones North into my patio. They were high and bright multi colored beauties. It did not work. If those exist and grow well it is likely in Fla. Then there is the possibiltiy that I bought pictures doctored up with photo management tricks.
Daisylovn, pay attention to doc. Doc is a genius.. Las Vegas has no greenhouses. I actually have to plead with the distributors to bring in some coleus. But now I have Rosy Dawn and my wonderful mentors from DG.
Doc is not a genius.................just an old fart that does not trust what I read and none of what I touch until it has been around awhile in my gardens. Fifty or more years of gardening does give one a few ideas and principles to consider.
I don't have to meet any publishing schedules or rules. Therefore I can say what I please when I please to say it. Sometimes I get hoof and mouth disease but I try to be gentle in disagreements. ROGLMAO
Ditto Doc. Thats about the only good part of being over 60.
Welcome Daisylovn. You are about to discover what obcession feels like.
LOL! Doc, you are my kind of "old fart" :-)
Gotta go now to see my neck streaching and twisting nice little bitty honey bun that really I beleive knows every muscle in the human body. She gets more done right in half an hour than......... You finish that line. I'll respect your words. LOL
Doc, I was as Mortgage Banker but all my clients called me Mother Winter because I was so motherly to my borrowers and trid to make first time home buyers feel at ease. One afternoon I was just completing a loan application on a young couple and they had their son with them that was six. When we had completed the application, I offer him a tootsie pop as he had been wonderful and just sat on his dad's lap and did not make a fuss. He asked me if I was going to have one. I said, "oh no honey, I am an old fart and I do not eat tootsie pops". At that very moment he got off daddy's lap, stood up and said very loudly, "Fart, that is all my daddy does, fart fart, fart". I will never forget that as long as I live. Daddy was cool about it, smiled, shook my hand, said thank you and they left.
Have a wonderful day.
Skwinter, From the mouths of kids! I hope you don't mind if I post your story on the Jokes and Humor forum. I got a nice laugh!
Daisylovn, you're going to really enjoy Coleus growing. Don't drown them, and give them plenty of Nitrogen. And yes, they grow differently in different states, even in different places in your house/yard.
I bought a sad one in the grocery store. Very dull plant, green with brownish blotches. I put it in the sun, no go! In full shade, it's developed a pale yellow stripe down the middle of the leaf, and a few specks of pink thrown in, I really like this one.
You can't be real sure what you're taking home with you! Sometimes a very nice surprise.
edit, seplling!!
This message was edited Dec 10, 2009 1:31 PM
You take time to edit spelling Mola?
You can post it. Glad you enjoyed it.
Welcome, daisylovn! Glad to have you aboard.
I just finished another 5 hour stint of cutting back, pinching, tossing and re-potting coleus but it's a wonderful way to spend a sunny afternoon in the safety and warmth indoors. That wind has been like an endless freight train.
I was searching for a dark coleus I knew I had and realized it was outside. I went out, took cuttings and submerged them in water. They're bouncing back!
Karen..........lawns are not over rated. They are green weak and spindly from being bombed with man made chemicals and being cut to short.
Get them into organic low numbers like 4-2-4 or even lower numbers. Set the cutting blade no lower than three inches. Four inch cut is better. Let the cuts fall where they will. Within three years you will use less fertilizer, the plants will be standing tall and strong and there will be no more thatch. You might have to do some spot weeding as you back out of the chemical thing. You might even continue occasional spot weeding but 99% of the chemicals will be leached down stream and your organic fertilizer will not leach out when used properly.
I have been on that program for more than thirty five years. I choose to fertilize once each September and add a little lime every three years. i'll put the condition of my lawn and gardens up against any weed and chemical feed program in our area. I have not had mid summer dry back for so many years I do not remember when the last bad summer was. The only garden or yard I water are areas that are newly planted.
What puzzles me is the fact neighbors ask how I keep such nice lawn and gardens but to date not a single soul has taken my simple advise. Habits and hand me down principles are very hard to change.
I tell you what... I really enjoy several forums here at DG. I must tell you, this one has given me the warmest welcome yet. Thanks for that.. feels like a nice loving family here.
Tracey
Molamola, those coleus are fabulous. They look so healthy. Are those your cuttings?
Great picture Molamola
Welcome Tracey! You're correct - this is a great group of coleus addicts. They've taught me a ton about them already and are very generous with their advise and cuttings!
Molamola, beautiful, cheerful picture - thanks for sharing!
YES Molamola, The picture is GAWGEOUS!!! Very inspiring..
I aimed mostly at red, orange and yellow. I bought some from Dale-the-Gardener(miss you Dale!!) and stplong also sent some, and I have bought two here on Island. Not many here so far, I might start something once mine get big enough...
Maybe I'm greedy? I want to see how big they'll get. They don't seem to suffer pests or diseases, and tho' I have overwatered some, they tolerate my attention quite well. I plan to put them in five gallon buckets as soon as I can get the buckets. See:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1011889/
the idea is to have a self-contained pot with a reservoir of water in the bottom where the plant sends "water roots". The plant gets as much to drink as it wishes, no wet/dry stress of you or me coming with a hose or watering can. Just getting started with mine, will have some before and after photos soon.