I can't imagine any shady spot w/o Coleus, and anything else is welcome but unnecessary to me. Coleus looks awesome from the very first minute until the very last. No waiting for blooms, though when they do show up, they attract butterflies and hummingbirds.











Generic Coleus entry:
Coleus (Coleus scutellarioides)

Hundreds of cultivars in a search:
http://garden.org/plants/searc...

Coleus forum:
http://garden.org/forums/view/...

Coleus are an indispensable part of my shade garden. There are so many colors and they fill in areas that have had large areas of bulbs planted and would be bare without them. They are easy to grow and although annuals, they are easily kept over with cuttings brought in and enjoyed through the winter.

I use them extensively in my sunny gardens!

I think I'm going to have to use more coleus this spring! Beautiful photos.

I have used coleus for in lieu of blossoming plants for their gorgeous colors in my shade garden.
Really love them too.

They're also lovely in a mixed bouquet. When the flowers are gone you still have coleus (probably rooted) to plant. Nice bonus.

Coleus are not annuals, they are tender perennial shrubs.

One of the ones I showed is 'Florida Sun Jade.' It really does do GREAT in tons of sun.

Not in my area.

Marilyn, I think you mean Coleus isn't a perennial in your area? It can't stay alive where I am outside over winter either, but it's still a perennial. Being taken to where it can't survive doesn't change a plants' basic status as a perennial. That's not a designation given by location, but, to avoid confusion and wrong expectations, plants sold outside of their realm of hardiness are labeled annuals.

Discovering which are really perennials is the first step to keeping the perennial ones alive inside over winter, for those who might want to do that. Many of the basic 'Rainbow' and 'Wizard' Coleus can be grown from seeds, but when one finds a cultivar that can only be vegetatively propagated, it can be worth saving if one would be bummed if unable to find it for sale again the next year.

Thanks for the clarification. I was about to google perennial to see what it is defined as in the dictionary.
Saved me some time.

I agree. Unfortunately it is not hardy for zone 7.

Also am wondering if flies feed on the leaves? By the end of the season my leaves look like lace and it is only the fly that I see on the plant.

Several kinds of caterpillars like to eat Coleus leaves. I have no idea what specific critters are around in CO...

Any suggestions on how to defeat either the flies or the Caterpillars?

I've only hand picked the caterpillars. Never had flies on coleus. I bring in cuttings and they don't get flies so they aren't using them as a breeding ground here.

The caterpillars look like this: (sorry for the fuzzy photo)

I like coleus too, they can handle our heat here as long as I get to water it often. But I don't like that at first cold snap in Fall down it goes. But it is a beauty. I cannot have good flowering plants here in summer, we get too shaded, and this plant offers the beauty of its foliage nicely.I really like pinching this plant, gets very bushy nice.

Are the flies you're seeing on Coleus whiteflies?

I don't interfere with caterpillars (or any other pest on outside plants) unless they are armyworms munching on something I don't have enough of to share because I don't want to eliminate the meal of whatever predator would like to eat the pests.

Those green ones from Arlene's pic look like they may be cabbage white butterfly larvae. If they were eating too much of my Coleus, I would fling them into the lawn for birds (or whatever) to eat.

My flies are black.

Interesting. I've never heard of a pest of plants that was some kind of black fly. Curious what others have to say...

The flies are black.

Here is the type of damage to which I referred.