Online Nurseries 2001 - Avant Gardens
Many of the newer forms of coleus will take sun as well as shade and, unlike the older seed-grown varieties, they don't try to run to seed immediately and get scrawny. These are tender perennials, generally sold as annuals in all but USDA zone 10, who will not tolerate any frost. They are easily grown from cuttings, but not easily overwintered, I've discovered. Without just the right kinds of conditions, it's a fight between aphids and mealy bugs in the warmth they want or damage from cooler temperatures that keep the bugs a bay.
'Cranberry Salad' blends gold and burgundy in a medium-sized leaf and may work better as a foil for a burgundy leafed plant than 'Apricot Queen'. 'Gold Giant', with tawny gold leaves sporting a burgundy underside can get quite large once summer's heat sets in...I have to have this one! Both of these will take sun to part shade. 'Solomon' is an Avant Gardens selection; a sport of 'Pineapple Queen', whose yellow leaves first emerge with a faint burgundy line. As the leaf matures, it develops an attractive ruby wash. It prefers part shade. Any of these will make sure there's a spot of sunshine in your garden, no matter what the weather.
Heading in a different color direction altogether is another plant I've long wanted, Plectranthus argentatus one of the many members of the Lamiaceae (Labiatae) or mint family.
Native to Australia, this is another tender perennial (actually a shrub), hardy only to USDA zone 10, that is sold as an annual in colder climates. It can be grown in sun or part shade, where the silvery foliage will make a mound about thirty inches by thirty inches (0.76 x 0.76m). It actually produces lavender-blue flowers, similar to those on Coleus, but they aren't exactly showy and the plant is grown for its foliage. It can be propagated by stem cuttings or division in spring and summer.
I've got (I think) the hardy Clerodendrum trichotomum, but have not yet tried any of the tender types. Clerodendrum ugandense (or as listed by Fairchild Tropical Garden) Clerodendrum myricoides 'Ugandense' really intrigues me. How can I resist the two toned flowers that look like miniature dancing butterflies? I've even run across it being called "butterfly flower". Wouldn't the combination of this with Plectranthus argentatus be rather nifty?
The genus Clerodendrum contains
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