Any luck over-wintering Coleus?

Hi, I am going to try my hand at overwintering Coleus - I am in zone 7a. I do have a large bay window that faces South which gets lots of sun, so I think I will put them there. Have any of you had any luck with overwintering Coleus in 7a?

Thanks for any feedback :)

I'm in zone 5, but I overwinter coleus in my house every winter. It does fine. Come about March I start propagating it so I have plenty of each kind for my yard. I'm sure zone 7 would do just as well.

Hi Spunkster- I'm on a 7b/8a border, and last year was my first attempt at overwintering Coleus. Considering the trials and testing I put those poor things through and to still have a few make it, I bet you'll do just fine. I did everything I shouldn't have: letting the roots in water too long, not enough sunlight, soil too wet, soil too dry...I should be ashamed.

I plan to overwinter Coleus again this year, using tiered terra cotta pots to grow them. Although, I'm hoping a fellow DGer will share their know-how. Good wishes to you!

I just take cuttings at the end of the season and then root them in water. Coleus roots very easily and then just pot them up for another season. If you overwinter Coleus, the stems tend to get very woody.

Did you see this article? http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1290/
I was thinking that a pot like this would be a good way to overwinter a lot of different coleus. You could take cuttings in the fall and root them in one of these then in the spring take cuttings from this to start new plants. Not sure it would work but I thought it would be a good way to save a lot of different cuttings without taking up a lot of room.

Now isn't that clever! Puts them all in one place vs. spread across the dining table in individual pots, and it's attractive too. hmm, do you think the same idea would work with a strawberry pot? Thanks for the link, HollyAnnS.

Shirley1md, do you keep them in water all winter and plant them in spring, or do you transfer the rooted cuttings to soil at some point during the winter?

I hadn't thought of overwintering one plant and taking new cuttings closer to spring. What a great tip-thanks, avianut.

Actually I have a self made strawberry pot full of coleus. Years ago I picked up an inexpensive plastic pot and had Ric cut 6 holes in it with a hole-saw. Made a nice strawberry pot type of container. You can plant whole plants in my holes they are much larger than in this article. Mine holds about 10 coleus plants. I have a watering pipe buried in the center of the pot. It's a 2in piece of pvc pipe with holes drilled into it. It was put in the pot before we started to fill it with dirt, When I water the pot I fill the pipe that way the roots all get some water and the water doesn't run out the plant holes as much. Works very nicely.
I liked the one in the article with the smaller holes since you could save so many more different cuttings. Although you would then be going through the cutting and rooting process in the spring to get plants from the ones in this container as you could never get the plants out of those small holes.
Of course I haven't overwintered any coleus this way just thought it might be a good way.
Shirley what do you think?
I had to replace a few of my plants, in this picture you can see the holes and you can just see the white bit of pipe in the top. When these will fill out and you would see hardly any of the pot at all.

That's lovely, HollyAnnS--I really like it! Coleus play together so well, and the terra cotta color makes them stand out even more. I think I like your pot better than my clay one. :)

Thanks plantmover, I've had it for years surprising how well it's held up considering it's plastic. The shape and terra cotta color work very well although once the plants fill in you barely see the pot at all. I have it sitting in the corner of my Gazebo.

plantmover: Coleus roots very quickly in water. Once they have several roots growing I then transplant them into a small plastic container with good potting soil and let the roots develop further. You can always keep potting them up to larger and larger size containers throughout the Winter & Spring. You will have a very fine large specimen by the time Summer rolls around. You can either showcase it as a magnificent colorful plant or divide it to use in lots of different planters.

HollyAnn: Your Coleus looks lovely in your strawvberry pot! I like that your DH got creative and added a few more planting holes in your pot. That way you will eventually achieve a very full and lush looking container.

I personally would not recommend planting Coleus in a terracotta container because they dry out to quickly. I prefer to plant my Coleus in plastic containers for that reason. If you have your heart set on planting them in terracotta, then definitely add polymer crystals to the potting soil to help it retain the moisture.

I have wintered coleus over too. I use a rooting hormone and good potting soil. I keep in a sunny window to keep from getting too leggy. Take more cuttings in spring to plant out in the yard or give away to the gals at work.
The mother plant I just leave in the pot and summer outside when the weather gets warm.
Water cuttings works fine but I prefer to skip that step.

lol...glad to hear I'm not the only brutal gardener out there, rcn!

I was concerned about the terra cotta drying them out, so thank you for validating that, Shirley1md. I'll stick with plastic, especially since y'all have had such success with it.

ladygardener1, am I understanding your method correctly: you snip cuttings off the overwintered plant, stick the cuttings right into the soil outdoors, and they root from there? Wow, how easy is that!

Shirley, do you just cut a few of the leaves and stick in water?

Plantmover, I start all the cuttings in small plastic pots (I save all the plastic pots when I buy plants) I use potting soil and keep pretty wet, when they resist a gentle tug I know they are rooted and then I'll plant in the ground. Sorry if I gave you the wrong idea.

Thank you for all of your great advice!! I'm so excited, I've bought my two Coleus plants (both 'Kong') and will pot these and go for it in the Fall. What a great idea about the container!

ahh, gotcha. Everyone's advice has been most helpful. Good luck, Spunkster!

Got it now, just cut the leaf at the base and stick in water! Will try this out in the fall.

here's a thread i started about overwintering coleus/taking cuttings/rooting in the coleus forum:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/857367/

i don't use rooting hormone anymore- my results are the same without it. coelsu roots very easily. bottom heat helps alot! i've gotten roots in as few as 3 days in perlite with bottom heat.

hope this helps;)

joy

I do this every year and fill up my kitchen windows with a dozen or so coleus cuttings - just straight branch in water* - I always mean to pot the up - rarely do and when spring comes I just plant them out in containers - never had a failure. No need to fuss - this plants are easy and root so easily

*for vases I used old baby food and smal condiment glass jars

- Amy

I will take this all to heart. Last fall I cringed to see my pretty coleus out in the frost so I brought a big pot in. of course it became a mess quickly. I have nowhere near the amount of bright space for it.

Good luck to you too Plantmover!

Sorry, I've been on vacation and didn't see your question, Candee. I cut a couple of Coleus stems off the mother plant, remove their very bottom leaves so that they are do not touch the water, which will lead to bacterial build up and decay. I then put the "pruned" stems into a glass of water, which I try to remember to change every other day. Before long, you will see white hairy roots sprouting from the stem. At that point, you can put your rooted Coleus stem into good potting soil and give it some diluted fertilizer. From there, you're little cutting will grow into a beautiful specimen! Good luck!