Two years ago I had many coleus plants on our patio and they were beautiful. At summers end I just piled all the pots that held annuals in the back of the yard, dirt and all. The following summer I was too ill to go out to my garden. Then this year I bought fresh ones and started to sort out the old pots and there was this guy! I think someone forgot to tell him tht he was an annual because I am zone 5. Since then it has been growing fast and is beautiful again. I will attach a picture. Until I looked at this forum I did not know that there were so many different ones. I want all of them :) :)
hardy coleus
Somehow did not attach picture. I will try again.
It's a caladium, not a coleus. Sorry to burst your bubble.
Bill at http://www.caladiumbulbs4less.com/servlet/StoreFront has a sale here at DG each January and he gives big price breaks and has the best of the caladiums.
Mableruth, that is fantastic! Maybe it was covered up really well with a lot of dirt? Please keep it and propagate it. I would love to have a start of it someday.
pirl You definatly got me on that one! Anyway, it is beautiful and I was surprised to see it. Thanks for the tip about the sale - I sure hope I remember. That seems like a long ways off. At least I will have plenty of time to fine a good spot in the house for them. Do you have a large collection? I would like to see pictures
killdawabbit you have the best name on the whole site! I love it! If you are working spells for that purpose, could you please get the moles, chipmunks, squirrels, and grubs at the same time?? You would make alot of friends if you could do that! Tell me how to propagate it and I will give it a try.
Mableruth, I am working on rabbits, voles and moles at the present time. Then I'll get to the squirrels who've been eating the acorns after my little oak trees sprout thus killing them. I think my birds have the grub problem in had. Not much beetle damage here.
The caladiums will multiply slowly over the years. They will have little offset bulbs on the side of the main bulb and these will make new plants. You can take them off and make new plants or leave them alone and have a nice big clump every year.
We talked about holding caladiums over from previous years on a thread this past winter. I'll try and find it and post the link here.
I use them as annuals as many/most of us do.
Thanks for the link. I definitely overwinter mine. They get bigger every year.
You have the knack: I don't.
They are ridiculously easy to overwinter. But I do grow mine in pots. It might be more difficult if you grow them directly in the ground.
Mine are all in the ground but thanks for the tip.
Aha. I guess that's it. I haven't grown any in the ground. I guess that's a different story then, huh? :-)
I guess it would be difficult to let them dry out naturally like you can in pots where you just withhold water until the leaves are gone and the bulbs completely dry.
Bill told everyone on the thread (not the thread I linked to above) that the caladiums cannot take cold nights so we'd have to dig them up as September/cooler weather approached, dry them and store them for the winter. Since I had hundreds of baby coleus to get inside I didn't have the time or the energy to even consider it.