Coleus (60 photos) - types, care and cultivation

Photo: diz-cafe.com Coleus is an ideal home flower, which combines amazing endurance with unusual beauty. It is valued not for its flowers, but for its original multi-colored leaves with patterns on the plates. If you don’t like wildly blooming flowerpots and all the tricks of caring for them, coleus will become your faithful friend and ally!

general information

The colloquial name for coleus, which it received for the expressive shape of its leaves, is weed. In the apartment the flower grows like an unpretentious perennial, but in the garden it will not survive the winter. And all because in nature it lives in Africa and Asia - regions with hot climates and no frost.

Coleus was brought to Europe on purpose and they immediately started breeding it. The first wild species amazed sailors so much that they brought them straight from the island of Java. So, since the nineteenth century, the popularity of the flower in the world has grown rapidly.

Photo: domashniecvety.ru

Coleus leaves can be the most unexpected colors: orange, red, burgundy. Most often, they combine several shades at once: for example, grassy green with purple. Together with the unusual shape of the plates, it looks very impressive and exotic!

Although it doesn't bother gardeners too much, coleus does have flowers. They are just small, faded and inconspicuous, whitish or blue. They are not particularly attractive, so it is better to remove the buds at the bud, otherwise they will draw almost all the nutrients onto themselves. Because of this, during flowering, the coleus leaves become smaller and fade.

Photo: flo.discus-club.ru

Coleus: methods of propagation and planting features

Coleus can be propagated using cuttings during regular pruning or by seeds.

Propagation by seeds

Seeds for propagation can be obtained from a house plant after flowering. Seeds are sown in the spring in the ground for adult coleus or for seedlings:

Cover the ground with film or a jar (bottle).
Seeds do not need light for germination, but the temperature is required within 18...20 °C.
When 2 leaves appear, it’s time to pick up the coleus.
For watering from this time, you need to add nitrogen-based fertilizers to stimulate growth.
The plant is transplanted into an adult pot with 6 leaves.
It is necessary to fertilize a young plant with nitrogen before the flowers appear, and then switch to mineral fertilizers. To preserve the strength of the coleus, the first flowers are cut off immediately.

Propagation by cuttings

In the spring, when pruning the plant, the apical areas with 3–4 pairs of buds are selected. The lower leaves are removed from the stem, leaving only the upper ones. The cuttings are placed in clean water on the window. You can expect roots to appear in 2 weeks.

Coleus species

There are about one and a half hundred species of coleus, and almost all of them have decorative leaves. Beautifully flowering varieties are rare, but they are almost not common in our country. Two main species are grown in culture - Coleus Blume and Verschaffelta.

Coleus Blume

This is a perennial herbaceous species with oblong ovate leaves. Its plates are lowered and painted in all shades of green, pink, red and burgundy. A characteristic feature is textured tetrahedral stems. Popular varieties and hybrids are yellow-green Butterfly, luxurious scarlet Volcano, spectacular multi-colored Saber and delicate light green Golden Bedder.

Photo: vrn-agroservis.ru

Coleus Verschaffelta

In essence, Coleus Verschaffelt is almost no different from Blume. Except that it is larger, with large leaf plates and an expressive velvety surface. The most common color combination is the notorious duet of green and purple.

Photo: etsy.com

Hybrid coleus

Different varieties of hybrid coleus are very different from each other, but some features are preserved. They necessarily have oppositely growing leaves with an uneven edge: wavy, curly, jagged or dissected. The stems are always square in cross section and elongated, erect.

Photo: lph-zarechye.rf

Ampelous coleus

These are varieties with thin shoots that fall from hanging baskets and planters. The same coleus are excellent for landscaping fences on terraces and balconies. Among them there are very tiny hybrids up to 30 cm with multi-colored hanging leaves.

Photo: subscribe.ru

Succulents (85 photos): types, care features

Dimensions of an adult plant

In varieties of the “dwarf” type, the plant height reaches 10-15 cm, and in tall bushes 50-80 cm.

The leaf size varies from small, no more than 3 cm in diameter, to large. The shape is not very different, mostly oblong-oval or elongated towards the end. The edge is raised, indented from finely toothed, wavy, to deeply incised, curly.

Coleus is actively growing, which leads to rapid growth; the plant must be replanted in a timely manner.

You can increase the lifespan and decorativeness of the plant through regular pruning and renewal of the bush.

Coleus care

Coleus is not only very beautiful, but also grows quickly at home. It is also useful because the leaves contain natural phytoncides that purify and refresh the air.

Temperature

Coleus loves warmth, so it feels best at a temperature of 20 degrees. It will not survive the winter in open ground, so it is grown in the garden as an annual. In an apartment, coleus feels good at a temperature of 16 degrees. Be sure to make sure that even in frost it does not fall below 12 degrees.

Photo: coleusy.ru

Lighting

For coleus to be truly bright and unusual, it needs as much light as possible. Varieties with white, yellow or red leaves tolerate even direct rays well, unlike green and purple ones. If you have south-facing or east-facing windows, choose them.

Photo: freyja.su

Watering

For watering, be sure to leave the water for at least a day in a warm place so that it is slightly warmer than the air temperature. In summer, make sure that only the top layer of soil dries out, and in winter, reduce the frequency. But do not allow the coma to dry out completely, otherwise the leaves will react almost instantly and become painful.

Coleus loves to be sprayed because it grows in hot, humid climates. Even in winter, it is better that the humidity in the room is slightly increased - for example, as in the kitchen or bathroom. For spraying, use the same warm, soft water as for irrigation.

Photo: foren.germany.ru

Soil and fertilizer

Coleus is absolutely unpretentious to the type of soil, so any nutrient mixture will do. At the beginning of the period of active growth, use mineral or organic supplements. Add a weakly concentrated solution once a week, and in winter - once a month and at half the concentration.

Photo: zen.yandex.by

Reproduction

Coleus propagates equally well by seeds and cuttings, because it grows quickly. At the end of winter, scatter the seeds evenly in a flat box and do not sprinkle on top. Go long distances because they have a very high germination rate.

Spray the soil with a spray bottle, set the temperature to 20 degrees and find a brighter place. The seedlings will germinate quickly, so don’t put off picking. If they no longer fit in the container, they may begin to wilt. To ensure that coleus bushes well from the first months, pinch it immediately after transferring it to a separate pot.

Coleus cuttings are replanted in spring and summer due to the fact that the flower is very heat-loving. To do this, the branches are cut off at the end of winter and transferred to nutritious flower soil. If you put them in water, hurry up and transplant the cuttings immediately after the roots appear.

Photo: domashniecvety.ru

Kalanchoe (60 photos): types and features of care

Coleus Solar flare in Moscow

Address: Moscow, Southern administrative district, Orekhovo-Borisovo Yuzhnoye district

Coleus varietal Solar flare. Elegant contrasting leaves will decorate your home, office or garden. Rooted cuttings are available, the price depends on the size, from 50 to 100 rubles. There are other varieties of coleus, see my profile.

Unfortunately, this advertisement is no longer relevant. You can see similar current advertisements from the current category a little lower, or go to the category using the link: Indoor flowers and plants in the city of Moscow. You can also use the site search form.

I'll give it back. Due to the large number of plants of this variety, I am giving away the surplus. Pickup from Cherkizovskaya. Come with your own container (bags, cups) Achimenes with unique and very unusual.