COLEUS IN WINTER 



C^ OLEUS plants, as a rule, are not a 

 success in an ordinary window in 

 — ^ the winter season. For several 

 years I experimented with them, using both 

 old and young plants, keeping them cool or 

 hot, moist or dry, and finally hit on a plan 

 by following which they area complete suc- 

 cess every year. My experience has been 

 that old plants generally do not do well the 

 whole winter through. When the main 

 stalk becomes tough and woody it is time to 

 discard it and begin afresh. 



My plan is this : Just before the first 

 killing frost in the fall. I go the rounds of 

 my coleus plants taking about three slips of 

 each variety. These are placed in glasses 

 of water to root ; when nicely rooted they 

 are potted off into three or four inch pots in 

 a soil composed of two-thirds garden soil 

 (not too rich) mixed with one-third sand. 

 I find a very rich soil is not conducive to ex- 

 tra bright color in the leaves, and I have 

 known the plants to be grown beautifully 

 bright in pure sand. I keep two plants of 

 each kind and they remain in the same pots 

 until spring. They are placed in the high- 

 est shelf in my bay window, which makes 

 them six feet from the floor and one and a 

 half feet below the top of the window. It 

 is of necessity a very hot place as, in addi- 

 tion to the heat from the stove, the sun beats 

 in on them all the forenoon and half of the 

 afternoon of every sunny day. 



As the plants begin to grow tall, I pinch 

 out the ends of the shoots to make them 

 branch freely until about February ist, 

 when I let them grow, for slips. They are 

 usually large enough by March ist, when I 

 put them in water to root. In a few days 

 the roots appear and they are potted off as 

 before. I give the new plants the upper 

 shelf then to get them in good condition to 

 bed out in. May and set the old stock plants 

 aside. Some of the old plants will branch 

 out again and raise another lot of slips, 

 which are discarded at once. 



From the time the slips are potted off in 

 ihe fall until March that high shelf is my 

 particular pride. The gorgeous colors and 

 soft velvety texture of the leaves are as 

 beautiful as flowers. 



Some of the best varieties are Golden 

 Redder, Charm, John Goode, South Park 

 and Golden Crown for yellow sorts ; Louise 

 Chretien, Ruby and Moonbeam among 

 white and pale tints ; Crisp Beauty, Geo. 

 Simpson among light red and pink sorts ; 

 Dr. Koch, Brightness, Firebrand. Fire King 

 and Midnight, crimson and maroon ; Pro- 

 gress, Mrs. Hunt and Butterfly among mot- 

 tled and shaded ones. 



There are a few new varieties that are of 

 a stronger growth, with leaves of immense 

 size for coleus. I have not tried any of 

 them, but have seen them displayed in 

 greenhouses and also at our last agricultural 

 fair. Some of the leaves were five or six 

 inches long, and though the plants are hand- 

 some as decorative plants, they do not seem 

 so appropriate or beautiful for bedding pur- 

 poses as the old sorts. A specimen plant 

 is a lovely sight, but a mass of them spoils 

 the effect. 



Coleus, as a rule, are remarkably free 

 from insect foes. I never found any but 

 the mealy bug on mine, but they can kill the 

 plants in a short time, as they seem to sap 

 the life of the plant so that it wilts and falls 

 over before one knows anything is the mat- 

 ter with it. Eternal vigilance is the best 

 remedy, but when . you find them on the 

 plants the use of alcohol or whisky on them 

 will kill them at once. 



It is hard to give coleus too much heat, 

 but a chill -will cause the leaves to fall off. 

 Mine are watered three times a week during 

 cold weather. Later in spring they need it 

 every day. They are sprayed every morri- 

 ing before the sun is on them. To sum it 

 all up, young plants with plenty of heat and 

 not too much water will give one a fine dis- 

 play of coleus all winter. — Vick's Monthly. 



