First of all, hello there and glad to have found you!
I want to plant some Coleus plants next to other plants in big pots. I would just love
having their foliage against other dark or light greenery. But is it easy to survive indoors, what are some of their most important needs? Thank you!

Yes, Coleus make fine house plants. During the short days of winter, providing more sun than they may have needed while outside for summer can help keep them looking beautiful & avoid leggy, etiolated growth.

You can keep root balls or cut stems & stick them in pots with other already-growing plants.

same pot a year later:






Stems can also survive over winter in jars of water:

@purpleinopp, oh, they are just wonderful! Well done on keeping these beauties in such good condition! I'm worried if I can help them survive, even if the climate here is warm, they do need a certail level of humidity, don't they? I'm just drooling over your foliage combos, I wish to learn to do this myself sometime!

Coleus do seem to grow well in humid conditions, but I do not know how picky they are about lower levels, or how low the levels would need to go to cause adverse reaction.

I never dig up root balls to save for winter, just cuttings. For example, the stem on the right in this pic:




They can be put in jars of water:


Or just stuck in pots with already growing plants, as seen in some of the pics from my last post. I usually stick the stems all the way to the bottom of the pot so they stay upright.

Then, in the spring, new cuttings can be stuck wherever new plants are wanted in the landscape:

Thank you for the useful info @purpleinopp!

Happy to share!

I have my bonus all into work now, some in jars some in pots, and near a window facing south. I have overwintered them before but I'm really going to town this year. I won't have to buy any next year because I have propagated so many from the plants I had gotten off the discount rack at Lowe's some as cheap as $0.50 each. I get most of my plants off the discount rack and even though they might look half dad at the time with a little love they become survivors and beautiful.

I have my coleus all inside now, some in jars some in pots, and near a window facing south. I have overwintered them before but I'm really going to town this year. I won't have to buy any next year because I have propagated so many from the plants I had gotten off the discount rack at Lowe's, some as cheap as $0.50 each. I get most of my plants off the discount rack and even though they might look half dead at the time, with a little love they become survivors and beautiful.

Do the cuttings that get rooted in water have any problem when transplanted into soil? You gals make it seem so easy to propagate, while I have read from other people that when they move their rooted cuttings from the water to the soil they mostly die on them.

I had not tried growing coleus where we live because it is so dry.....like coastal Greece(?)

But after I saw this beautiful tower of coleus by stilldew , I had to try.


She gave me a good start with several cuttings, and now I have
my own tower in the living room until it warms up.....and more cuttings
as I cut them to keep them from blooming (& dying?)

I've been giving them water, but still not enough to keep the soil moist
throughout the pot. So I brought them outside to give them a thorough
watering, and after letting them drain well, will bring back inside in a sunny window.

BTW, I always root my coleus in water.....very easy & fast (form roots in ~2 weeks).
I'm using Dr.Earth Pot of Gold potting soil for all my plantings now.
Just for fun, I put some daffodils in the top pot, and planted this pretty viola for the bulbs
to grow up through.

According to Daisyl, it's....

Trailing Violet - Viola hederacea. It has edible flowers and leaves.

Maybe good with some feta cheese, extra-virgin olive oil, and balsamic vinegar?
Just kidding......I couldn't eat something so pretty.

After the daffodils bloom, I'll transplant them to a place they can naturalize, and fill the
top pot with more coleus.

ευτυχισμένο το νέο έτος! Happy New Year!

@purpleinopp,

the more I think about it, the more I think you have the best idea for over-wintering coleus....just keep cuttings in water.

Much easier to maintain, and cuts down on the gnats that seem to live in the potting soil.

So am going to take down the tower in the living room, make new cuttings from the rooted plants,
and put more bulbs (if any are left over at Home Depot) into the tower outside.

BUT will create a tower of coleus when it warms up again.

That is why I started trying it - ease. I've kept doing it for decades because it also works! :+) It would be fascinating if it's something that proves as easy & successful in your climate too. Totally different atmospheres!

purpleinopp said:That is why I started trying it - ease. I've kept doing it for decades because it also works! :+) It would be fascinating if it's something that proves as easy & successful in your climate too. Totally different atmospheres!

Regardless of our growing zones, I'm assuming we all have similar comfort zones, and can control the temp & humidity.
So anyone should be able to keep coleus happy in a jar of water inside over winter.

BTW, I like to use these small vases for individual cuttings, but like your idea of a bunch of coleus in a larger (quart canning?) jar.

Faridat said: First of all, hello there and glad to have found you!
I want to plant some Coleus plants next to other plants in big pots. I would just love
having their foliage against other dark or light greenery. But is it easy to survive indoors, what are some of their most important needs? Thank you!

Glad to have found you, too! Welcome to this great community of gardeners from around the world. It's an amazing place to
learn, share experience, pics, plants, and seeds, to ask questions, help others, and make friends.

Hope you grow lots of beautiful coleus, and post the pictures here.

Your plants are so nice gals and guys, I'm drooling! I just have to try some coleus, definitely! Thank you for the warm welcome @EscondidoCal! And happy new year to all!

Not just surviving, but still blooming in greenhouse.



This particular individual is in a pot with a pineapple & a bunch of Kalanchoes. At the end of season 2016, I dug up the pineapple from its' summer vacation in the ground & stuck the Coleus stem in the pot afterward. So when I put the pineapple in the ground last summer, I just left the Coleus with it. When I dug up the pineapple again this past fall, the Coleus came up too, so they got potted together again. I don't usually save Coleus by the roots like that but it's been fun. And BIG.

What an extraordinary and beautiful combination you have now Tiffany!

Do to your interest in Coleus, I have been meaning to show you some coleus that grow indoors under lights in a very northern climate, for almost 10 months of the year. For me, my coleus put out the best show indoors under artificial lights.

These plants are different cuttings from the same plant. One grows in a East window and one grows in a North window, and their leaves are barely alike anymore.

I just wanted to encourage you to go for some coleus. They are a fast growing delightful plants.


Please enlarge photo, it looks much better that way.

lauriebasler said:These plants are different cuttings from the same plant. One grows in a East window and one grows in a North window, and their leaves are barely alike anymore.

WOW! That's amazing, Laurie. I didn't know you could get different color combos on one plant.
Very pretty.

They are fun plants to play with, and their leaf markings are so responsive to light. If you put one cutting in bright shade and one in stronger sun, the one in the sun will wash out a little, and have more green and less vibrant color than the one in shade. I believe their leaves grow larger in partial shade as well. They tolerate missing a watering one time, pretty well. But if it happens again and again, the plant will really suffer. They really need consistant care.They are really easy to grow from seed, so they are cheap plants as well.

Coleus colors are absolutely variable depending on the light. Some look their best in the direct sun outside all day, especially the 'Florida Sun' series.

Most of the cultivars can only be reproduced via cuttings.