I am growing it from seed this year. I have grown it once before a couple of years ago. It doesnt seem to be tricky. I grow indoors under shop lights, havent ever tried directly seeding it in the ground. My spring starts to late to do much direct seeding. Most of mine are at their second true leaf stage right now and looking good.

If you have a light set up, or a place to put a couple of 4ft shop lights then I'd recommend it. I now grow all of my annuals from seed. This year I have already started Lime light and Black dragon Coleus, mixed tuberous Begonias, pink Geraniums, burgandy Galardia, Magic Blotch Mimulus, a variety of Petunias, Impatiens and some bedding Dahlias. With a lot more to be started this month.

but mandolls ....

part of the question was.. did you get anything really UNIQUE??? .. or just subtle variations on the theme???

any chance at some pix of your babes???

ken

Selecting and buying your seed always provides us with better options than we can get from the garden centers...unless we just want to go with the tried and true while we're saving a ton of money.

I didn't do any seeds this year for the first time in a very long time. Boohoo! Next year, I'll be so excited to see what's new.

I've grown coleus many times from seed. As long as you have a good germination and growing set-up, they aren't any more challenging than any other plant.

I've grown coleus from seed the past three years using wintersowing. Works fine every time.

I'm trying three new varieties this year.

mandoll, I'm also growing Limelight and Black Dragon this year. After having no luck with coleus after planting outside last year, I thought I should have checked to see if these two had any resistance to the disease coleus get. Have you tried them before?

Coxy - they are both new to me too. I dont have that much experience with Coleus. The only ones from seed I have grown before were a Rainbow mix. They did fine, but I hadnt read the details closely enough and the ones I bought were 6-8" tall, so much smaller than I had wanted. I aIso decided I wanted larger groups of a single color instead of the standard mix.

The only problems I have had with Coleus were the ones that I planted in full shade. If you are having issues with fungus then air circulation, sun and good drainage will be your friends.

Rhizo, I'm surprised you didn't mention that Coleus seeds need light to germinate. A juicy tidbit of info I remember you telling me a while back... Thanks again - it made all the difference last year!

Lol, I was waiting for you to remind me!

I've only grown coleus once and it was actually a few months ago, I grew it from seed. it did great. I still have several plants growing in a container, all of which grew from a seed mixture called "rainbow"

I am living in Tumaco, Colombia in South America. Yes, wonderful weather for coleus. Actually the first time in my life since I was a kid I am able to keep coleus alive. I used to drown them. I figured out why since moving here while fixing the drainage issues of my soil for aroids.
I am curious though, what should I expect to see from a frilly yellow & reddish leaved coleus from self pollinated seed? I am assuming the plant is a hybrid of unknown origin. Is it likely to produce a multitude of varieties like I am hoping, or just the same plants?
Also, how long are the seeds viable, and what conditions are needed for storage?
Pictures of the plant blooming can be seen at the facebook link provided.

Here is a link that might be useful: My coleus collection on facebook