Her work is published on many websites. Raising coleus from seed is relatively easy. Coleus (Plectranthus scutellarioides) is a bushy, colorful plant that is hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zones 10 to 11, but grown as an annual in much of the rest of the U.S. Houseplants' air-cleaning and oxygen-producing benefits may have been exaggerated, a new study says. Although the seeds of your beloved coleus … Given adequate light, coleus overwinters easily indoors. Growing coleus plants indoors isn’t at all difficult but does require a few basic needs when it comes to light and temperature. They create psychological benefits and overall produce good vibes, so they’re nice to have around, even if they’re not the air-cleaning machines we thought they were. “We found VOCs were not at all removed by the plants in any real sense compared to the amount of VOCs already being removed by just standard ventilation practices in all buildings,” Waring said. “[The studies] would take a potted plant and put it in a small chamber … three feet by three feet by three feet … and they would inject a particular volatile organic compound (VOC) into the chamber … and watch it decay over time, and that decay is what they would contribute to the plant clearing the VOC,” Michael Waring, one of the study’s authors, told CNN. Treat a pest infestation with a premixed insecticidal soap. Older coleus … Plant it in a container that is in a shady or partly shady area, and enjoy the beautiful display of color until the weather turns wintery. Dig up healthy plants … If you're in USDA zone 9 and want to keep your coleus over the winter, it's safest to plant it in a container and move it into a protected spot during chilly weather, or bring it indoors. In a frost-free area, coleus normally lives for several years. Coleus is a tropical perennial plant that is normally grown as an annual by gardeners who live north of USDA hardiness zones 10 and 11. $5.50. Please click the button below to agree to our Terms and Conditions and acknowledge our Privacy Policy. Ellen on August 16, 2019: Isn't coleus a good indoor plant? Coleus are beautiful, easy to grow indoor and outdoor plants grown for their colorful leaves. Other leaf shapes are frilly, skinny or deeply notched, depending on the cultivar. It will live for many years if you position it near a bright window, safely away from drafts and intense heat sources. Water it regularly, but don't let it sit in water or soggy soil. Overwintering coleus plants is actually quite easy. Coleus is a spectacular houseplant anywhere. Jill Spencer (author) from United States on October 23, 2018: Hi, … It has been used for over 3,000 years in Ayurvedic Medicine. If you are keen on decorating your interiors with some green we’ve made a list of some amazing plants that can be suitable for your Dutch home! Kiwi fern is low… © Copyright 2020 Hearst Communications, Inc. Coleus is a spectacular houseplant anywhere. During the growing season, plants can be pinched back or lightly trimmed to promote more compact, bushy growth. Grown as an annual throughout the United States and as a perennial in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 10 through 11, coleus also makes a good houseplant that decorates an indoor environment with non-stop color. © 2020 Cable News Network. You may like the lavender flower stalks, of you may prefer to focus only on the colorful foliage. Keep your coleus looking beautiful through its growing season by pinching back the stem tips periodically. Published Seedlings emerge in 12-21 days As soon as seedlings emerge, provide plenty of light on a sunny windowsill or grow seedlings 3-4 inches beneath fluorescent plant … You’ve probably heard people say that keeping plants in your home or office helps to make the air cleaner, but science says otherwise. After you have properly thinned your coleus plants all you have left to do is maintain the coleus’ lives by providing proper care. Whatever you call them, these are good-natured plants that are pretty hard to kill and quite easy to propagate. Wintering a Coleus Plant. Coleus appreciates moist soil that drains well. Boil it for one hour to prepare Coleus tea. This leaves yellow, green, violet, orange, red, attracts people from patterns. Add liquid fertilizer to your watering can monthly throughout the spring and summer, at the rate of 1 tablespoon per 1 gallon of water, or at the rate noted on the label. Learn more about Coleus uses, benefits… You should use nutrient rich soil that drains well, as coleus don’t like to be in … Height/Spread: 12-24 inches tall, 18 inches spread. The plants are usually small and can be developed indoor. Coleus Amoeba . Debug houseplants for winter The first thing I do is to rinse the plants … Password reset email has been resent. Water the plant … Yes, you can grow it indoors and outdoors. #1 Monstera Deliciosa. How to Grow a Coleus Houseplant. Coleus Sampler Collection. Before you bring them in though, you need to clean the plants and debug them. They can be dug up and overwintered indoors, or you can take cuttings from your healthy plants to make additional stock for next season’s garden. Coleus Ava's Grace . Success! (CNN) You've probably heard … Coleus left to flower may lose vigor as the plant puts energy into seed production. Keep the plant pinched back to promote branching and a balanced shape. Coleus was reclassified to Solenostemon in 2006 [1] and is still the common name used today in marketing and advertising the plants… Most of the flowers are spent now & have been removed. Growing coleus indoors is definitely possible, provided you give it enough moisture, heat, and humidity. PHOTO: Modern ventilation takes care of a lot of the cleaning for us, so it would require 10 plants for every square foot to notice a difference, Waring said. If you can't bear to see your plant die, bring it inside for the winter and place it in a warm, sunny spot. $5.50. You can also clip off the flowers, as the plant sometimes becomes leggy after producing blooms. However, plants are certainly positive. Coleus branches break easily. Look for hot pink, orange, lime green, burgundy, chocolate brown, yellow, lavender and even a purple so dark it looks black. As a tropical plant, coleus can't bear a chill and will blacken and die once the weather dips much below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. You'll soon see small roots appear. Think basically living in a greenhouse. Ideal for beginner gardeners, they can be grown as perennials in USDA Hardiness Zones 10-11, and as annuals everywhere else.. Members of the mint family, Lamiaceae, plants in the Coleus … $5.50. A Warner Media Company. Turns out, neither one is true. $5.50. Coleus Bellatrix. Commonly known as Swiss Cheese Plant, thanks to the holes and splits of its leaves, this is currently the “must have” trendy plant. To complete your CNN profile and ensure you are able to receive important account information, please verify your email address. If you live in the mildest winter areas of U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 9 through 11, your coleus has a good chance of surviving the winter outdoors. There are two primary myths about keeping plants in indoor spaces: one is that you get more oxygen with a houseplant around, and the other is that the plant helps clean the air. Start with a beautiful, healthy coleus plant and care for it properly, and you will be rewarded for your efforts with a magnificent house plant. She loves crafts and has a deep interest in design and DIY projects. Coleus plants are well-known for their beautiful foliage that enhance garden borders and brighten up rooms as potted houseplants. Superfine Rainbow Festive Dance Coleus is an herbaceous annual with an upright spreading habit of growth. Set the clipping in a glass of water so only the bottom 1 inch or so is submerged, and keep the glass inside near a sunny window. This increases bushiness and maintains the shape of the plant. Keep it out of intense sun, as it easily scalds. Solenostemon scutellarioides is the long Latin name for the species we know as Coleus. There was also no standardized metric for how the reports were recorded, Waring said, so the study used the clean air delivery rate to predict the effectiveness of plants in a real building. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network. However, the essential oils in coleus are toxic to animals. Coleus are popular plants for good reason. Coleus for Hypothyroidism Steep some Coleus leaves into the lukewarm water. Coleus Abbey Road. I grow a single Coleus plant in a 4"-6" container and 3-4 plants … Coleus can benefit with bottom heat. Choose the right soil. Originally, Coleus was grown mostly as an indoor plant⁠—a very popular houseplant in the 1960s. Set plants out after all danger of frost is past. With some of the most colorful foliage of any plant, coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) is a showstopper in a shady garden. Coleus needs well-draining soil. Outside USDA zones 9 through 11, coleus is a beautiful spring-through-fall annual. And they’re easy to grow. Coleus tends toward brittle legginess, so they are best used in displays with other coleus or with other plants. Coleus are fairly fast-growing and often last until late fall when they can be killed off by a hard frost. Coleus (especially indoor coleus) benefits from weekly supplemental watering; especially during the summer months when the sun dries soil much faster than in the spring. Strain this infusion and drink it. Once you've had the pleasure of growing coleus, you'll want to enjoy it year-round. One of the many joys of growing coleus is how easy they are to propagate. $5.50. All Rights Reserved. Verification email has been resent. Coleus is an aromatic plant, which smells like camphor plant. Plan to sow them indoors, eight to 12 weeks … Color: Yellow-pink edges with burgundy leaves. Choose a spot that is protected from wind. In fact, coleus plants respond well to potted environments. “That does occur in the chamber, but it’s the microbes that are absorbing the VOC, not the plant itself.”. Coleus is the traditional name for a genus of popular landscape plants that have now been reassigned to the genera Plectranthus and Solenostemon. One of my favorite plants to bring inside for winter is the coleus, which makes a marvelous houseplant! All types of coleus are easy to care for if they get enough … Coleus can easily be started from seed indoors about 10 weeks before the last frost date in your region. Clip a 3- to 4-inch piece of stem with at least two sets of leaves. The coleus plants are not poisonous and nontoxic to humans. Here’s how it looks in mid-October. Read on to learn more about growing coleus as an indoor plant. Success! Coleus or forskolin are used for high blood pressure, chest pain (angina), asthma, dry eye, and many other conditions, but there is no good scientific evidence to support any of these uses. How to Get the Tillandsia Air Plant to Bloom, How to Care for Impatiens Walleriana Flower. These undemanding and practically care-free plants grow readily from seeds, even for beginners. How to Keep Coleus Through Winter. In USDA zones 10 through 11, the winter is mild enough to plant coleus in the ground. A study published this week in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology debunked the myths by analyzing 12 studies on the subject over the past 30 years. This tender tropical plant has an amazing array of colors and leaf patterns. Updated 8:26 AM ET, Tue November 12, 2019 Houseplants' air-cleaning and oxygen-producing benefits may have been exaggerated, a new study says. Here's how I do it. Living in California, Michelle Ullman is a professional writer with particular expertise in home, garden and pet/nature topics. In ancient Sanskrit texts it is known as Makandi and was said to have been used for supporting healthy functioning heart and lungs, and a number of other functions in the body. Watch out for fuzzy mealy bugs and the tiny webs of spider mites, both common pests on coleus grown indoors. House plants in the Netherlands: 9 indoor plants that will flourish. Coleus is a member of the Lamiaceae or Mint family and smells like camphor. This … $5.50. If the plant goes into flower, snip off the flowers to encourage vitality, and pinch off growing tips to encourage bushiness. Your cat or dog may develop diarrhea or vomiting if they eat coleus foliage. They’re versatile enough to serve up mounds of color indoors or out in containers, planters, gardens and landscapes. And as far as the first myth – that you get more oxygen with a houseplant around – Waring said that because ventilation provides constant air from outside, lack of oxygen is never a problem. Though coleus does produce spikes of lavender flowers, you'll appreciate it most for the colorful leaves, which typically look like a rounded triangle with scalloped edges. Light: Different coleus varieties have varying light needs, so check the plant tag or dig into our Our Favorite Varieties section below.Most newer coleus varieties thrive anywhere from full sun to deep shade. If you have a particularly beautiful specimen you want to enjoy year after year, take a cutting in fall. Coleus Makes a Magnificent Houseplant Although usually planted outdoors, with proper light and food, a coleus plant can make a great addition to your collection of house plants. Thanks for posting! Coleus has Anti Hypertensive Health Benefit Recent scientific studies confirmed that coleus contains a potent compound called forskolin that may have muscle relaxant properties and can dilate blood … It will live for many years if you position it near a bright window, safely away from drafts and intense heat sources. Julia Stepper/Unsplash. $13.50. It's up to you if you want to let the plant flower. Getting More Plants. Coleus Beautiful Burgundy Edge . Coleus … Coleus is a plant that has been used since ancient times to treat heart disorders such as high blood pressure and chest pain (angina), as well as respiratory disorders such as asthma. If an account exists, we've sent an email with a link to reset your password. Refill the water as it evaporates. Coleus … Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition. This is a relatively low maintenance plant. By the time spring arrives and all danger of frost has passed, your cutting will be ready to plant in a container and enjoyed outdoors. 8:26 AM EST, Tue November 12, 2019. Coleus Beauty of Lyon. You’ve seen this coleus before when I blogged about propagating it & then later on some juicy coleus “stuff”.This particular plant … Indoors. In Ayurvedic Medicine probably coleus plant indoor benefits … coleus are beautiful, easy to grow indoor and plants. Season by pinching back the stem tips periodically used in displays with other.. Coleus tea tropical plant has an amazing array of colors and leaf patterns heard … left! Study says, red, attracts people from patterns sun, as it easily.! Versatile enough to plant coleus in the ground 16, 2019, attracts people patterns... If the plant fall when they can be pinched back or lightly trimmed to branching. Yellow, green, violet, orange, red, attracts people patterns... 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